Story by Joan Heming (BBO: floral1930)
Some years ago, my husband and I were flying from Cape Town to Paris when an unexpected disruption forced our plane to land in Barcelona, Spain.
After a bored hour wandering around the airport, I went into a shop that had playing cards. Aha! I bought the four packs they had and headed for one of the airport restaurants.
"Anyone here play bridge?" I called out.
About 15 hands shot up.
We sorted ourselves out, cleared four tables, and began to play. No language in common, no systems in common. Some played old fashioned rubber bridge, some Acol, some just answered with a shrug ("I don't understand"), and some Goren. We didn't even have the same names for the face cards.
We kept score on the table napkins and spent four happy hours playing until our plane finally took off. We were complete strangers from lots of different nationalities, but bridge brought us together. We made friends that none of us will ever meet again, but it illustrates that if you play bridge, you will never be lonely.
wonderful story Joan!!!
b rilliant idea!!!
Wonderful story, thanks for sharing! Fingers crossed I Will be around the next time you are delayed😊
great story. thank you Joan 🙂
If you are clever enough to buy four decks of cards, and call out 'anyone play bridge', you must be a pretty good bridge player! Very clever!
I PLAY H OW DO I GET ON?
I need to call out 4th for bridge. After 40 years, our long running home game is in dire jeopardy. We are 3 men in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, who have recently lost our 4th. We seek a new 4th with good skill & sense of humor. If this is you, please respond.
can the 4th play on line....
Gosh, I love these stories !!!
I tell all I meet to learn to play bridge so they will never be lonely in their elder years. It also gives you something to look forward to. Bridge is a real challenge
Remarkable!
Great story, thank you!
What a lovely time they had. Brilliant idea.
Brilliant!
Great way to pass the time at an airport!
Lovely story. A nice way to spend the time instead of being frustrated by things out of your control
Brilliant idea, which I would be there 🙂
Lovely story!
Your story reminds me of my experience in college. I learned to play bridge as a sophomore at Michigan State. We generally played in the grill, downstairs in our dorm. If we didn't have 4 players, we would call out 4th for bridge, as we entered the grill. We almost always got our 4th.
Wow great story.It must have been a great way to spend those four hours.
Wonderful story!
Thanks Joan for your very interesting story.
I agree playing Bridge is great for lonely times.
My thanks to BBO.
Fantastic. Hopefully I'll be there next time
Fantastic story Must have been a lovely experience
Excellent! Playing bridge in a strange environment and with total strangers.
LIKE TO PLAY
sometimes I am looking 4 partner in BBO
Oui, le bridge permet de rencontrer des gens, de passer du temps agréablement sans nécessiter beaucoup de moyens.
Cette belle histoire nous fait penser à avoir en permanence avec soi un jeu de cartes...
I’m free
Play now
I PLAY...HOW DO I GET ON?
LETS PLAY