Highest in reds, lowest in blacks

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

There is no algorithm or paradigm to determine or measure what anyone does on a Sunday afternoon.

I image for many people Sunday afternoon, can be a lazy time. Especially at this time of year, it’s easy to give in to our sloth.

On Sunday I was invited to lunch. There were five adults and four children at the table for a delicious meal.

At some stage one of the children produced a set of playing cards. They had been on the mantelpiece. A conversation about playing cards ensued and it was suggested that after the meal the adults would play cards.

Meal over, table cloth pulled away and five of us sat down to play 25.

Two of us had some idea how to play the game but for the three younger adults, it was all new territory. Though one young woman from the US had as a child played an American version of 25.

Originally I had planned to head home sometime before 5pm. I eventually headed off after 8pm. It was the funniest afternoon I have had in a long time.

The other person who had some idea about 25 is from the North of Ireland and the fun we had in our interpretation of the rules was hilarious. In the card game 25, each person is given five cards. In dealing the cards you begin by dealing each person three cards and then two cards. The player from the North said no, you first give each person two cards and then three cards. Of course there is no difference but it did manage to create a funny disagreement between us.

I had only met the young American woman on two or three previous occasions and up to our card game our relationship was rather formal. 

The card game changed that. Two hours into our game I saw a side to the woman that I had never before seen. She was hilarious. Her sense of humour had me rolling around the table laughing. And then another player wanted to know why the Five of Hearts had such a high rating. How do you answer a question like that?

There was some cheating too. One or two people were caught looking into their neighbour’s hand.

The fun, the laughs, the excitement, a bit of shouting and dodgy language too, added to the fun.

A simple game of old-fashioned playing cards gave the five of us great entertainment.

It set me thinking and brought me back to my childhood and early manhood. We played cards at home, especially at Christmas and then later as a young Dominican, cards were always on the menu during holiday time and sometimes on Saturday nights.

People still play cards, especially Whist and Bridge but regular card-playing by amateurs like me seems long dead.

And the death happened well before computers, tablets and mobile phones appeared on the scene.

I’m wondering why did playing cards die the death it did? Was it the television that killed cards? It’s just not done these days. I can’t imagine it’s the cool thing to do.

Is it that we are too busy and have no time for such ‘simple games’. God love us, if that’s the way our thinking has gone. But I’m part of that gang as I have not played card games in years. 

There was no money on the table. And guess what, had there been, I can’t imagine it would have improved the entertainment aspect of the afternoon.