I collect him from the station and a couple of hours later we
find Louis and Patrick at the airport… the weather is uncharacteristically
sunny and Gill lays on a wonderful spread for us out on the deck.
We get the puzzles out and spend a while in an out of the sun,
amusing ourselves with puzzles. Louis has found me a Bits and Pieces Gillen
Pawn knowing that I didn’t have one yet – thanks mate! Patrick has brought us
some Belgian “chocolate” in the form of a classic pentomino tray packing puzzle as
well as some fun little challenges based on a tessellating Escher-like fish
design.
Jacques has sent over a couple of boxes from the last
auction via Coolen-mail and we all have a good time exploring the little
Karakuri Creative Secret boxes…
We get Patrick checked in at the local B&B (“Oh yes we
had some puzzlers staying here before” – “Yeah, sorry, those were my fault as
well”) and head back up to the house for a BBQ where we’re joined by Bernhard
and Kerstin. Bernhard brings out a big old box of puzzles he wants to sell
(actually there’s a big box he’s brought over on the plane and an even bigger
one that he posted to my place a couple of weeks earlier…I purchase a couple of
Andrew Crowell designs that Bernhard has made up himself and let the rest of
the gang have the first picking – In spite of that, I still mange to hoover up
a few interesting things the following afternoon after the whole gang at MPP
has had a go at the table full of goodies Bernhard has laid out.
The BBQ is pretty successful (i.e. meat is suitably burnt
and there’s plenty of ice cream and chocolate sauce! – My definition, other definitions
may exist.) and we wind up puzzling until reasonably late – Juno’s Slammed Car
is an instant hit and it takes us a while to get to the loaf of bread… doubtless
there’ll be a blog post about it along in due course…
Next morning, we head down to the hall for the 10am start …
at 09:30… and find that Holt and Schweitzer have already set out most of the
tables and Angela and Peter have a pile of books out and ready to sell some
surplus books and puzzles. Bernhard’s table has lots of interesting goodies on
it and Dave has brought along a couple of boxes of his latest delivery – Issues
5 & 6 of his Metagrobologist Magazine – I pick up a copy of each – first impressions
are highly favourable!
I get the refreshments all set up and lay out some puzzles
for people to try their hands at before settling into the usual routine of
sitting around, chatting, fiddling with and failing to solve the odd puzzle,
engaging in a little banter and drinking a lot of coffee.
The rest of the gang (including a couple of Danes) wanders
in over the next hour or so and pretty soon we’re up to our usual numbers.
Patrick introduces himself to everyone and in no time at all it looks like he’s
a regular: puzzling and chatting with the best of them.
Dick always brings handmade puzzling gifts for everyone at
MPP – this year it’s a pair of ostensibly identical puzzles perfectly entitled
the Fraternal Twins. Remove the ring from each set of entanglements and you’re
done. Dick helpfully suggests tackling the girl first (the one with the curves
on the handle) before the boy (the ruggedly square handle seems appropriate).
Each has a handle with a trapped trapeze and a dangling key – and a lonely ring
trapped on the wrong side of this lot. To his credit, he was at least warning
people that the solutions for the puzzling pair were different… he wasn’t
kidding! I manage to extract the rings during the course of the weekend and the
solutions are wonderfully different – as in worlds apart! I do my usual thing
of not being able to reassemble the second puzzle and it ends up taking me longer
to get the ring back in the wrong place (i.e. the start position) than taking
it off! Thanks Dick!
Dale rather kindly gave everyone an edge-matching puzzle to
work on – we managed to solve it the next day… and it’s a wonderfully tricky
little sod! Thanks Dale!
John brings a small collection of lovely old cast puzzles
and invites everyone to have a bash at them. I spend a while, recognising
several of them that have gone on to become well known as Hanayama puzzles in
recent years – that always makes me smile – and a few that I can’t recall
having seen before, including a couple with interesting anchor shapes
incorporated into them – those really give some interesting movements and
restrictions.
We miss Ed at lunchtime - he wasn’t able to join us –
probably nothing to do with the fact that he’s recently got engaged – CONGRATS ED
& EMILY! Ed had challenged someone to have a kebab in his stead, but sadly
the chippie isn’t able to oblige so Ed’s challenge went unmet. I am pleased to
confirm that there were several pitas, fish suppers and many, many pig buns
devoured in the name of lunch.
After lunch there is more of the same: puzzling, banter, puzzling, banter and coffee.
The Creative Secret boxes go down well, as does Eric’s
Multiball – several puzzlers are duly seen shaking the balls all around in the
hope of getting the little guy open – everyone succeeds – some more elegantly,
dare I say, nonchalantly, than others.
Steve has treated us all by bringing along the Standard
Puzzle Hamster, or SPH. A rare occasion given the importance of maintaining
this important Reference Unit’s integrity – in spite of several intensive photographic
shoots during the course of the day involving the hamster in ever stranger
positions, the Reference Unit’s integrity is maintained – well that’s our story
and we’re sticking to it. 
I drop Dick off at the station so he can get himself into
the first of many queues later that evening after a traditional meal with his
tennis buddies, before heading back to Barnt Green to begin winding things up for
the day… people seem strangely loath to pack up and head up the road this time –
must be the heat, it has been very warm, for England!
We decamp to chez Walker for the traditional fish
supper – once again courtesy of Ali and Steve – THANKS GUYS! There is much more
puzzling thereafter – much of it outdoors on the deck in the gloriously warm
evening. Who needs light anyway!?
Somewhere between 10 and 11 the gang heads off and I drop
Patrick back at the B&B before getting home and crashing!
Next day Patrick, Louis and I spend most of the day puzzling
– OK, I spend most of the day watching Louis solve the puzzles that I can’t
solve. By the time I drop Patrick and Louis back at the airport for their
evening flight home I am well and truly knackered – It’s been an absolutely
fantastic puzzling long weekend… and Wimbledon starts the next day, what’s not
to love about June MPPs?
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