Day 8, 15 Jan: The Game

Norfolk Terrace, UEA. Day 8. 23:48. "The Game"

I really took the day off from partying. My liver thanks me for it. It turns out that I really got up today because of the sound of a knock on my door. I thought it was the cleaning lady (who apparently is known to the flatmates on a first-name basis and is really nice. Her name is Judy) so I got up and went out. When no one was there, I wandered into the kitchen and found Marie sitting at the metallic table. We had a good chat about her roommate’s expected arrival later today (and her name is…Laura…but pronounced “llow” as in “allow” (minus the “a” sound) and “ra” as in Lady Gaga’s “Ra-ra-rarara-rah”) and I found out that it was she who had knocked on my door! She was lonely and no one was in the flat, so she went around knocking on all the doors. Good solution.

            I felt relatively lukewarm in the head and body and really not lively most of the day, though I did get a lot of blogging done and eating. I left my cheese out amidst a sea of rubbish on the table, put it away after a few hours. Should be fine, I hope. I also went for a run, more exploratory than for a fast minutes-per-mile (or should I be thinking in kilometers?) pace (probably around 8 min/mile). [Random tangent: When Vinny and I met, we admitted that we were both lightweights when it came to drinking and told each other his weight. Vinny-74, Me-140. Then we realized that he was thinking in kilograms and I was thinking in pounds. Apparently, I’m 73.6 kg.] The campus feels like it’s shaped like a banana. I just ran into it again after heading right into the forest and past the cricket fields.

            The highlight of the day was unexpectedly games (no, not drinking games, but MONOPOLY). Seriously, though. We had ten people and the game lasted about 3 hours long. I almost had to declare bankruptcy but I sold my property at the last minute and just had enough to get by and still have just two properties left. Well, people kept landing on my railroad and electricity spots; I rolled die to land onto Go (which, by our rules, made the player receive double the normal Pass-Go, Collect-200 pounds) several times; and with a luck of the die, I actually survived amidst the partnerships and consecutive hotel-bought spots. I held my own and got around 800 pounds, but as I was sure to face defeat, I did what everyone was doing: joined a partnership. Then as my group was failing, we joined the girls’ group and finally it was eight of us against the two who had originally bought really good monopolies on the equivalents of Park Place and Boardwalk (in this Norwich edition, I remember Boardwalk being Norwich Cathedral). So eventually the 8 beat the 2, but the intensity of the game was definitely the highlight of playing. Landing on every other square was synonymous with paying someone rent. Shouts of “Rent!” could be heard at the tap of the piece on the board. I’d say it was a game well-played.