Thanks, QuizMasterBlaster

I don’t know if you’re reading this, QuizMasterBlaster, but I just wanted to thank you. On my DIY Quiz Trippers post of last Saturday QuizMasterBlaster left a comment , telling me of three quizzes in Ton Pentre. Well, it was enough to whet my interest, and Ton Pentre is certainly within the kind of distance I don’t mind travelling for a quiz when I’m not in work the next day. I thought about giving John a ring and inviting him, but I was a little wary for a couple of reasons. I know that if I asked John would feel obliged to come even if he didn’t really fancy it. Also I had no idea how good or bad the quiz was going to be. Come to that I had no idea what the standard of the other teams was going to be like either. So thinking about it I decided to go by myself, and if it was a bad experience then I could just write it off as one of those things.

I’ll be honest, it was pretty much worth going just for the drive. It was a fine evening in South Wales last night, and to get from Port Talbot to Ton Pentre I drove inland along the Afan Valley, and in to the Rhondda Valley. I thought that some of the scenery and the views were absolutely stunning. I’ve lived here for a quarter of a century, yet I can only ever remember driving over the Bwlch once before, and for someone bought up in the city like me, well, it was all very impressive.

Last night’s quiz was in the New Inn. I was impressed at the wide, slightly raised stage which was given over to the quiz master, although somewhat less impressed with the fact that he wasn’t given a mike to work with. Still, he soldiered on manfully. I did wonder whether QuizMasterBlaster himself/herself would be there, and so I asked Chris the question master if it was him. He just looked completely perplexed. So, QuizMasterBlaster, if you were there, I’m sorry that I didn’t introduce myself – I did try !

The quiz was a good, honest pub quiz. There were two rounds, and the question master marked each of the rounds by himself. The first round was 20 questions, and each one would begin with a consecutive letter of the alphabet. So 1 began with A ( Alabama in this case ) and so on. The one which made me think twice was – what name is given to someone who makes bells ? It began with F , so after mentally weighing up the options I played the percentages with – founder. Thankfully correct. The second round had the final 6 alphabet questions, and then another 4 general ones. Then for the final round we finished off with 10 more general knowledge questions. Here I got one wrong , not knowing what a person in the Middle Ages would do with a rouncy . Well, it was a term for a horse, so the answer wanted was ride it. Live and learn.

Yeah, alright, I did win. One team dropped just two points in the first 30 questions, but fell away a bit in the last, and there was daylight between us in the end. There was a cash prize as well, which is rare enough nowadays, and something I was never going to turn my nose up at. All in all a good fun evening- so once again, thanks QuizMasterBlaster.