  Oh what a sight for a procrastinator's sore eyes! What marvelous happenings have taken place. Nonnie, how wonderful that you have joined the blog. It's always lovely to be regaled by your postcard comuniqu and now we have online versions. Your spelling sucks. Jamie, my intention was to make all and sundry aware of the enormity of my snake, as in Jamie hat eine kleine Schlange (Ist Internettzung wunderbar nicht?
) However, I shan't deny that I do proudly own a large queue. I fear that our inaugural gambling event, like a faulty sigmoidoscope, hasn't been adequately entered into the annals of history. So for the benefit of the non-participants (including Alexander "I don't play with the other boys" Finlayson) here is the briefest of synopsisesphthisises: The first night of the House Good World Poker Tour was a momentous eve in which fortunes were lost and reputations made. No-limit Texas Hold 'em was the name of the game, one in which the stakes were high but the scruples low. Fortune and Serendipity smiled sweetly upon the few, as several consecutive high-ranking hands determined the high-rollers from the start. Thomas "No guts, no blue chips" Hellyer was the first to leave the game, his intimate knowledge of the rules no use to him.
Jamie "I'm always bluffing" Strachan seemed to be all set to walk away with the pot, but lost it all in a series of ill-judged hands and was second to leave the table crestfallen. The game progressed to a battle of the wills between the two remaining players, John "Jordan's cheating" Steel and Jordan "Shut up you ginger Turk, I'm not cheating" Bowen. Alas, the gods had picked their favourite, and the Fates had destined the honourable to walk away penniless while the lowly rejoiced. John Steel, this is not over... 
