Some obsessions take me back

Unexpectedly, I’m enjoying a longer weekend than usual. This morning’s heavy snow surprised me as I thought the worst was over. Yesterday, another ‘snow day’, I spent ages creating a Powerpoint presentation about Bobby Fischer which I’ll use at work next week. I’m quite pleased with it. I've encountered some cracking photographs of Fischer on the internet and I’ve posted a few of my favourites above. I guess many folk, when considering this wondrous talent, concentrate on the World Championship match against Boris Spassky in 1972 which (cliché alert) put chess on the front pages. Howe’er, it’s worth remembering that the boy Fischer was a remarkable chess prodigy and became the USA open and closed champion at a callow fourteen and a grandmaster just a year later. I love the photo of Fischer, chewing a fingernail, surrounded by the cognoscenti of the New York chess scene at the Brooklyn club. I wish I possessed enough chess know-how to appreciate but a tenth of his skill and genius across the black and white squares.

Today I’ve watched some old episodes of The Adam & Joe Show, flicked through my Guardian and continued to mess around with spotify. I’m playing Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde as I write this, having listened to a bit of John Martyn’s One World earlier. A spot of luncheon beckons before an hour or so viewing the West Indies against England test cricket. My copy of Live and Let Die winks conspiratorially across the front parlour at me too so I might catch a chapter or three later. That’s a productive day I reckon.