Quiz Affective Disorder

Well, I’d like to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday yesterday. 47, thanks for asking. Actually that makes me think. I have been playing in pub quizzes , and league quizzes for that matter since 1988, before I turned 24. So actually I can truthfully say that I have been a pub and league quizzer for pretty much half my life now.

Obviously I shall be celebrating this very fact in tonight’s quiz in the rugby club. Its not my turn to do the questions, though, since I did it last week. Tonight its Dai Norwich ( so called because a) his name is David, and b) he’s from Norwich. ) I’ll be honest, I’ve often inwardly scoffed when I’ve heard people, whether it be on the box, the radio, or in the flesh, saying that their hobby is not so much a hobby for them as a way of life. But now that I come to think of it , its pretty much that way with me with quizzing.

Here’s a question ? How do you measure out time ? No, I’m not being funny, or philosophical, it’s a genuine question. I measure time in three ways. Firstly, there’s the day to day minute to minute time I measure out with my watch. Stunning observation there. However I also , in the larger sense measure out time in units of the teaching I do. I might not be able to tell you what the precise time of day is, but I can tell you exactly where I am in a lesson, and how long it is to go until the next break/lunchtime/ hometime. In the larger cycle of teacher time, I can tell you exactly where we are in the term, and how long it is to go until the next holiday ( to which question the correct answer is always – too long. )

Its true to say, though, I also find myself measuring out time in units of quiz time . At any given point in the week I have a sense of just how long I’m going to have to wait until the next quiz. My nearest and dearest have made the observation that they would never need a calendar to tell them its Thursday night, for example, because they can always gauge it from the mood I’m in. Tuesday – generally a grumpy sod because there’s no quiz – especially so at the moment while there’s no quiz at the Duke of Wellington in Cowbridge at the moment. Wednesday – slightly better – Thursday usually a lot more full of the joys of Spring because - hooray - its the quiz in the rugby club, and Friday not too bad because the weekend is coming anyway.

Is there a name for this ? Maybe not, although I bet that even in this day and age you could get funding to research it. Quiz Affective Disorder – QUAD for short ? Maybe I’m not quite such a hopeless case as I think. Time was , when I started going to the club in 1995 that I used to enjoy playing in the quizzes, but I absolutely loved compiling the questions and being question master, so much that given carte blanche to do so ( which I was not ) I would have produced the quiz myself every week. I still enjoy being question master, but I don’t mind going four or five weeks between stints if need be now. I’m not exactly sure why.