Sex or Action

Yes, you read that correctly. But don’t worry, I haven’t suddenly started writing risqué blogs, although I admit that, in the spirit of advertisers everywhere, I only put that in to grab your attention. It was one of the questions in the quiz that I went to last night. It wasn’t, sadly, an offer, but an anagram of a car. I’ll give you the answer later.

Every three months I, my wife and two friends (Big Up Mandy and Fintan!) trail up to Winships restaurant in Ovington, a distance of about two miles, for the community quiz. It’s always busy, and we have to book in advance. We can’t just saunter in and expect to get a table, oh no. Especially as we come from the village down the river, which is one reason we call ourselves the “Downstream Dream Team,” (“dreaming” in this case that we might actually win the quiz one day, rather than it being a reflection on our abilities or teamwork).

It seems to me to be a peculiarly British event. The host, or MC if you will, is a guy called Andy and he’s very good at keeping order and stopping it all from, in his words, “kicking off.” That part of his job is easy to be honest, looking at the clientele. We are a mixture of pensioners and professionals, with a sprinkling of the young and enthusiastic, and all very mild mannered for the most part. Although there might on occasion be a dispute about (for example) whether Zaire is an acceptable answer, as it is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but is still essentially the same country. Eyebrows may be raised, or tutting may be heard if it gets really nasty, depending on which way the decision goes, but it’s always played in a good spirit and I get the impression that everyone goes away having had a good night.

Andy’s voice carries well and he has no need of a microphone. He can make himself heard quite easily, although it gets progressively more difficult to do that as the overall alcohol intake levels increase.

I called it a particularly British event, for the reasons above but also – and perhaps chiefly – because of the raffle. Money raised for a noble cause is one of the best aspects of British life, as we are a generous lot, but I always find myself smiling as the lucky winner goes up to collect his or her prize, and the crowd breaks into applause. I think it’s only in England that we clap someone who has turned us into losers. Why do we do that? Maybe because the alternative is to greet the winner with stony silence. Now that would be VERY Un-British!

Anyway, we came second by a point and a half. The answers we missed out on included thinking that the highest grossing film of the 20th Century was “Star Wars” (It wasn’t – it was “Titanic”) and that the Brexit referendum wasn’t held in 2017 (should’ve said 2016).

And the car? It’s Citroen Saxo. Not, I’m sure you’ll agree, as interesting as its anagram.