In my view enjoying bridge is closely connected with the code of conduct that is valid at the bridge table - or should be valid. I have clear-cut ideas about how a bridge player should behave at the table. In theory most players will agree with me, but in practice things can turn out rather differently...

Real top players - and some of the less gifted as well - are experts in 'reading' their opponents.
I know very well I am not (or maybe I am not trying hard enough).
A friend once said about my abilities in this area: 'You have the table presence of a freshly peeled shrimp.'

Bridge can absorb a person entirely. When completely concentrated on a playing figure or bidding situation, a bridge player really is in a different world. This I found out the hard way.
In the car on our way to a league match my (then) partner Louk Verhees and I discuss a declarer problem from the day before.
'Perhaps it is better to finesse in hearts.'
'Well yes, eventually, but probably you should first test the clubs and try to throw West in the lead.'
'He will certainly unblock the ♠K, if he has it. Besides, why for heaven's sake would he have led a trump then?'
Yes, there were many possible lines of play.

Then I spot a motorcycle policeman moving in front of the car from the other lane. Gesticulating wildly he indicates me to pull over on the hard shoulder. When I oblige, he parks his motorcycle behind us and approaches my side of the car. I lower the window and look at him benevolently. He looks somewhat agitated and is busy getting his ticket pad from his breast pocket.

On launching this site on 15 June, I wrote about my dream of 'having' my own bridge website. Some three months later it is time for the first evaluation.

I once wrote an article about my experiences with bridge novices. They often dwell in, what I then called, the 'magical universe'. The article has lost none of its topicality.

My students eye me in astonishment when I tell them I never count trumps - which is the truth.