Today’s theme was the progress from the Congress of Vienna of 1815 to the German revolution of 1848. As good old Wikipedia puts it, “Germany” at the time of the Revolutions of 1848 was a collection of 38 states loosely bound together in the German Confederation after the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
The Congress of Vienna undid the work of the French Revolution and the Corsican Upstart and it also delayed the emergence of a unified Germany. What is of interest however is the way in which the German reaction was one that allied liberal (or “progressive”) ideology with the nationalist spirit. The two went hand in hand against a reactionary aristocracy.
Having sorted out that point, we cleared away our books and were joined by the doc’s parents around the mahjong table for another solid session of four games in just under six hours of highly entertaining play.
By the end of the second game I had amassed a solid cushion of 12 Maru (2 x OOOOOO) having come out the only winner both times. The second time that occurred I was on the lowest possible winning threshold of +1,000, but everybody else was below the bar.
In the third game Mrs M. Sr. got into a winning swing and finished top, while I had managed to finish second-and-in-the-black and pick up another two Maru to further cushion me from disaster.
Doctor Mogami Jr. was having a difficult time of it but he then recovered his form in the fourth game and finished top. Everybody else was down, but I had managed to remain closest to zero so was only fined one Batsu (X). In one game that helped my recovery the Doc had gone Riichi and I would be Tempai if I could get away with throwing out the Hastu that happened also to be the Dora tile for the game. The senior Doc had made a comment about Hatsu which I interpreted as meaning that he had one. I therefore took a chance and told the Doc that he did not need “this tile” and declared Riichi with the Dora. I had a Bamboo Honitsu hand and the Doc was good enough to pluck a 4-Bamboo from the wall and discard it! Thank you very much. However, it turned out that he had a Hatsu pair making up the head of his hand (if you see what I mean) so I had been quite fortunate really – but then Fortune is one of the presiding deities of the game, along with Mercury.
Despite the Doc’s recovery – up to that point – he and his father were the payers out this time. I had taken quite a haul, with each of my 13 Maru worth 250mulas in bonus loot on top of the score of +37 (x 50mulas) . The total came to 5,100mulas.
The Doc had pointed out at the beginning of the afternoon that the usual rate is actually double and had asked me if I wanted to graduate to that rate. I declined since, as I said to him, I did not want to hand his tuition fee straight back to him. We had a chuckle about my missed opportunity at the end of the game. It was then that I pointed out to him that of course I only charge him half my usual fee for the class and he agreed that that was probably so! We left it at that, but at this rate it might be worth offering to double up if he agrees to pay the full tuition fee…
Over to you Doc!
David Hurley
DavidHurleyinJapan.com