Bunburying

I'm sure you recall that in The Importance of being Earnest, Jack Worthing, so named because the gentleman who found him as a baby happened to have a first-class railway ticket to that "seaside resort" in his pocket at the time, likes to lead a double life.  When he wishes to escape from his social obligations in London, he goes by train to visit his fictional invalid cousin called Bunbury.  Hence Bunburying.

One of my favorite types of Bunburying is looking for abandoned railroad lines.  During the bridge tournament in Cromwell, I was able to spend a little time investigating the lines that formerly crossed in Cromwell, or rather just over the river in Middletown.  While I was working on that, I happened to be close to the extant line, the so-called Valley Branch of the NY, NH and Hartford R/R.  Quite fortuitously, a train came through just then and I was able to get a photograph using my handy iPhone (see above).

The time I spent must have been good for my brain because later that day, playing with Peter Matthews for the first time, we ended up 3rd overall and 1st in X in the two-session A/X pairs.  The field was quite strong although many of the top players were still in the knockouts.  Due to a technicality which occurred at another table, we were given 3rd place rather than 2nd equal.  This doesn't seem quite fair (it made a significant difference in masterpoints) but that's the way it's done.  If you're curious about this, you can read Den of Iniquity?

In any case, it was the best result I've ever achieved in a two-session open regional event.  Kim says I've been in a really good mood ever since.

Meanwhile, I've made my Western Connecticut railroad map almost completely accurate for the area around Cromwell.