The pawn site that’s keeping me going during lockdown...
AS WE move into what feels like day 1,000,000 of lockdown I have become increasingly creative in filling my free time. I am lucky enough to still be able to work from home, so for at least some of the time I have things to do.
However, outside of work, there is very little I feel obliged to do.
Before, my obligations were all around a few themes: going to see my family, training for a triathlon and getting my house ready to move are just some of these things.
But now, once I have logged off my laptop, I really have nothing that needs to be done.
Don’t get me wrong, I am still brushing my teeth and maintaining basic hygiene – though I did realise over last weekend I had gone three days without showering.
This came to my attention when I decided to make myself some pancakes as a little weekend treat.
I pride myself on my pancake-making ability.
If I had the same ability at sports as I did at pancake flipping I would be opening the bowling for England in a Test match (I suppose being 5ft 8in may also be a factor).
Once the pancake had reached the right structural integrity I readied myself for the flip.
I always adopt a level of flamboyance when I flip a pancake that would make Louie Spence look reserved.
As I launched my pancake into the air, I was hit by a wave of odour that made me think I had got my recipe very, very wrong.
However, it turns out it was just three days’ worth of armpit that had been roused by my elaborate arm movement.
Anyway, I digress – back to how I have been filling the time at home.
I have gone back to one of my childhood hobbies: playing chess.
I have always loved this game. Anyone who knows how many hours of chess I played as a kid will marvel at how bad I still remain at this game. I am pretty dreadful.
I know the moves, I have some tactics, but I just don’t seem to be able to stop people destroying me when I play.
However, I did not realise I was bad at chess until the past few weeks.
In my desperation to make my brain do something other than make food and write fantastically engaging columns, I decided to get back into the game.
As I am currently self-isolating alone I have really got into playing the game online.
The platform I am doing this on may have the best name of any website in the history of the universe – Red Hot Pawn.
Other than the fact I am terrified that anyone will stumble across my internet history, it has been a great experience.
You don’t need to sit down and play the game all in one go. No no.
The great thing about Red Hot Pawn (lol) is that you can make just one move a day.
There are timers but you and the person who is playing decide that beforehand.
I have a few games that I started a few weeks ago that are still going on. It is great fun.
The only issue is that every person who is sitting in their house engaging with Red Hot Pawn (lol x2) is absolutely amazing at it.
It has really hit my self-esteem hard. The person I have played the most chess with in my life is my uncle. But the problem is I was also the only person he played chess with. This meant we just got really good at playing each other, and now my chickens are coming home to roost (there must be a cheeky cockerel and Red Hot Pawn joke in there somewhere).
So I am going to selfishly use this column to try to find some more people at my level. If you want to play me at chess you can join the website (you know what it is called by now) and challenge me to a game.
My username is “BaggieMan89” (because I am a West Brom fan) and I would love to give you a game.
If you are feeling annoyed that you have just forked out your hard-earned cash for an Echo only to have a columnist ask you if you want to play a board game instead of writing something interesting, you can vent your frustrations by checkmating my poor beleaguered king (trust me, he is used to it).
As I am currently self-isolating alone I have really got into playing the game online