Third game of the season and Steve is returned from his intensive ping-pong training camp high in the Rocky Mountains. Pretty sure he was on his hols, actually, but good to have one of the core Defiants back in the fold for our trip to Wherstead. I gave directions to Richard and was confident he'd find the place. Shame I didn't tell him about the secret door to the stable block. He didn't really need a warm-up anyway.

Through the magic portal to find two familiar faces in no-longer-Smart Gordon and Which Computing Colin, plus taoist Phil. Notable notes:

• Richard and Ed off to equal flying starts
• many many nets & edges, predominantly in our favour
• Steve, up against Colin, stalled at the finish line
• very same Steve bounced back to easily beat Gordeon before sneaking past Phil in five mighty tight ends
• biskwits galore: Oreos and Fig Rolls and choc digestives, plus choice of cordial
• topspin Richard barely troubled: nine ends, nine wins
• Phil seemed to question his whole belief system by saying "I don't believe it" when Steve scraped yet another net
• Ed, comfortably 2-0 up against Gordon, took his foot off the pedal, went behind in the final end, got back to deuce, then lost
• reasonably straightforward doubles win for 100-per-cent Richard and less-than-100-per-cent Ed

Believe that's 20 points from three games. Highly acceptable.

The rules of 130Story are simple: given a random seed word, write a story in 130 characters.

Finding

Jefferson composed the words
To make it legally binding
That all men are created equal
Being the founding fathers' finding#130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 14, 2017

Organizing

If Nik's organizing your party, you're laughing. Anyone can tweak tunes or lighting, but Nik's secret weapon? Rugs, lots of rugs. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 12, 2017

Touchdown

Touchdown! Chilly here. I spy boulders and a US flag. Hope I've got enough balloons to get back. Closer than you think, the Moon. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 11, 2017

Italic

Fires up Word. Types H, space, H. Hits CTRL-A, CTRL-I. Increases view to 400%. Stares at the leaning text. Is that space italic ? #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 10, 2017

More to follow.

Grateful for a murky Friday due to my popping pupils, still wildly dilated after more indeterminate tests up at the eye-eye department. Best not to be cycling with one eye shut and the other open only a slit to let in as little light as possible. Sound idea to stick to the back roads en route to work.

How squintingly super, then, to be sitting on the shiny new Felixstowe pier, home of the shiny new Boardwalk. Arrived here through the 2017 grabbers and slots and bowling. Quick peek out back reveals that there ain't no End Of The Pier show. Flash fittings, all portholes and mirrors, will be paid off by these pub prices. Despite most dishes being a tenner or more, the place is chop chop busy busy.

Me and Andy, drifters both, order all the goujons inside then seek outside seating, of which there's plenty. Niftily, a set of tables is protected from the East Coast wind by a glass partition. Annoyingly, those are all taken. After five minutes being blown about and still trying to shield my ocular nerves, we head back through the swish automatic door.

Given our simple order, the grub takes an age to arrive. Nicely done, though, when it finally emerges, fresh with tangy tartare and crispy leaves, and all the staff are friendly and courteous, which is nice. Think there was sweetstuff to be had but not by us today, what with the time and heading back to work and all. Very good Paddy & Scott's double shot takeaway latte, though. Not the full cakewalk, the Boardwalk, but you'll be havin' some fun.

If it was a car -- Studebaker Lark.
If they were passing by -- Daniel Bowen-Smith.

Bit of a week at Broom Acres. Tuesday, Theo made his debut in the Ipswich & District Table Tennis League. Wednesday, we were sitting in A&E after a taxi took him out on London Road. Lucky boy to emerge with only a broken collarbone. Six weeks out, most likely, putting a stop to the ping-pong, badminton, driving, etc. At least he's still with us.

Step in bright young spark Richard, based at the GPO for a year on an industrial placement and eager to get a game at whatever level. Coming through the door as me and Richard trade shots are lefty Lloyds Mike, always good for a laugh, (previously) and cantankerous Cookie Mark. Their third player's let them down, alas, granting us a cheeky three point start. In brief:

• both for Richard, winning both in straight ends with some fine rallies against Cookie
• both for Ed, also winning in straight ends including a couple of should-have-lost-that-really ends
• nowt for Alison, showing the odd flash but too many unforced errors

With Alison volunteering to score, over to Richard and Ed to bring home the doubles in four fun ends, the Cookie monster finally thawing out a tad by that stage. All over by 9:15pm and eight solid points on the board.

The rules of 130Story are simple: given a random seed word, write a story in 130 characters.

Suggesting

The papers are suggesting and the radio's implying modern life is ever seedier 'cos those above are lying according to the media. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 6, 2017

Evaluation

Friday is appraisal deadline day. Within the Key Employee Evaluation Form (KEEF), please focus on customer satisfaction. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 5, 2017

Viable

Yann contemplated costs for hotels, refreshments, clothing, etc. Only when he’d deemed their relationship viable would he propose. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 4, 2017

Protests

Melody lives to carry banners and right wrongs. That makes her mum, Mae, so proud. And yet. Melody protests too much, Mae thinks. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 3, 2017

Nintendo

From Rainbow Road to Koopa Cape, me and Nik didn't move from that sofa. Midnight we had a pit stop for a much needed Nintendo wee. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) October 2, 2017

More to follow.

Season 2016/2017 ended with a wimper with the Defiants tumbling down, down, down to the murky depths of division 3. That, friends, is equivalent to the old football division 4, i.e. the bottom. At least there's nowhere further to fall.

Farewell to bright spark Natalie, off to seek enlightenment at a Russell Group institute of higher learning. New season, though, and new faces to accompany Steve and myself. Hello to Alison, joining us on a free transfer from those Thunderbirds, and hi also to Theo, my six-foot son, guesting for us after a few outings in the summer league. Steve's off in the States for a few weeks and thus unavailable. Here goes nothing.

Fixtures should have started two weeks back. Booking fiasco at Sports Club left us without a table, frustratingly, and last week was deliberately blank. Kicking off tonight up at The Dome, of course, against three players entirely new to me. There's one-eared Matt, big-shorted Mike and lefty Ashley. In brief:

• Theo, playing his games back-to-back, bounced back from two games down to take Ashley the distance and even had a matchpoint before losing out 13-11 in the fifth
• Alison breezed past Ashley, couldn't deal with Matt and then, like Theo, lost a really close five-ender to Mike
• Ed took a few points to get going but had the spin to win all three

Dreadful doubles performance from Ed and Alison resulted in a disappointing 6-4 opening defeat. Early doors, et cetera.

The rules of 130Story are simple: given a random seed word, write a story in 130 characters.

Create

"Quick," said Des, "create a diversion!"
I did it, eventually, but it took ages to shut the road and put up the necessary signage. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) September 30, 2017

Preference

Which recent film has your pet most enjoyed? Eight out of ten owners (who expressed a preference) said their cats preferred It. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) September 28, 2017

Agrees

"Class," says Mike, "Mr Fowler says we need to work on sentences with indefinite pronouns."
Neither the students nor Mike agrees. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) September 28, 2017

Blog

Father, a sleazy paparazzi.
Mother, a Spanish abstract painter.
That's how Flashbulb Logrono got his name.
Friends call him Blog. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) September 26, 2017

Regarded

Lack of knowledge of past participles caused Patrick to narrowly fail his French GCSE. His mum's keen to get his paper regarded. #130story

— Ed Broom (@edbroom) September 25, 2017

More to follow.