A Habit Worth Getting Back Into

Have you ever got out of the habit of doing something, or going somewhere? It’s easily done. There are relatively few things in this life that we can’t do without, and once you start doing without something, or you stop going somewhere, or stop doing something, it becomes a lot harder to start again as time goes on.

Since 2010 I’ve played in the Bridgend Quiz League on a Monday night, and I’ve enjoyed it tremendously, and I hope that I’ll be able to continue to do so for a long time to come. Prior to this I used to go to Newport on a fairly regular basis to Trevor Parry’s Monday Night quiz in the Pill Harriers Rugby Club. When I started in the Bridgend League, my idea was that I’d play in the League from September until it ended in April, and then from April to the start of the league season in September I’d go to Newport. Over a period of time I got out of the habit of going to Newport regularly, so much so that I wouldn’t have said that I went more than once in a blue moon, if that.

In mitigation I should say that there were drawbacks to going to Newport. The main one being that it’s a 45 minute drive there, and another 45 minute drive back. It’s a lot of driving, especially if it’s on a school night. A few years ago three of us used to go together, sharing the driving and also the cost of petrol – and let’s not ignore that it’s not just an expensive night in terms of time, it’s also expensive in terms of fuel. This was brought home to me when I started coming on my own, especially when they started diverting traffic off the M4 every Monday evening. Even during school holidays I found myself becoming glued to the sofa as the time to leave for Newport on a Monday evening came closer.

I was talking to Trevor a few days ago, and he happened to mention that Barry and George – two members of our Wales and West CIU winning team a couple of years ago would both be coming. George you might remember as a semifinalist in this year’s Brain of Britain. Barry I’ve known and played with in quizzes for over 20 years. So, to cut a long story shorter, I drove to Newport for the quiz last night.

It was great to see Barry again last night. I reckon that it’s been at least 2 years, and maybe even three. IN all honesty, it was worth going all that way just to see and chat with Barry and George again. But it was even more than that. When you go to a quiz which manages to be really good on a regular basis, then you stop going, it’s easy to forget just how good it was, and just how much you enjoyed it. Well, OK, we won last night, but I would still have thought it was a great quiz anyway. What Trevor does isn’t rocket science when you write it down on paper, but it's a hell of a good format. See what you think - – Round 1 is 10 News Questions and 10 General Knowledge Questions- Round 2 is a picture quiz of 30 pictures (not my cup of tea, but an important part of many a quiz, so fair enough) Round 3 is another 20 general knowledge questions – Round 4 is a lists handout, consisting of a variety of different subjects – Round 5 is another 20 general knowledge questions. Oh, and in between round three and the handout you get three questions for a rolling jackpot. How good does that sound? Well, it’s better. All for £2 each. You can’t go wrong.

If I’m honest the round 4 handout is my favourite part of the quiz. I still go to a lot of quizzes, and you don’t find anything like this in other places. To give you a flavor of it, in last night’s handout we had – 12 of the Times list of the best 30 musicals of all time – 8 original Warsaw Pact Countries – 12 classic albums – a set of questions on the Muppets – Sports questions based on the year 1995 – words for Monday in French, Spanish, German and Italian. You get the idea, I’m sure.

Of course, the fact that I enjoyed the quiz immensely doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a hell of a step on a school night. But I have to say, it’s certainly worth making the effort when I can. I’ll probably give it a go a week on Monday, and see how easy/difficult it is. Watch this space.