Sadly I did not spy goldfish

Going home for the holidays is great, but I find passing time in the pre-Santa days are harder. After the 25th you have gifts to divert your attention. It's the reason I posed the great Playstation NHL challenge to my brothers last year - that kind of thing takes time and effort.

I had an idea about a diversion for this year when I read about a board game Carcassone. I played Risk for the first time this summer and enjoyed it, I knew how heated things get on the rare occasions my family sits down for some Monopoly, and I like all things French, so this new game seemed full of promise.

In fact, the first time I heard about Carcassonne was when my roommate from England and I were planning a European trip for April 2003. While in the end we managed to cover 18 Spanish cities in 22 days, the original itinerary included a stop in a French village called Carcassonne, renowned for its incredible castle.

The roommate liked castles because he was a history buff; I liked them because I had always been partial to the medieval-themed Far Side cartoons (Western-themed Larson panels being my favourite). (It's also worth noting in parentheses that I had a kickass blog for the four months I spent in England, only to have it ingloriously deleted by my brother.)



So it's nice to know that while I may not soon get the chance to visit the actual Carcassonne castle, (the above picture is in Segovia, Spain) there'll be plenty of chances to play it over the holidays. No doubt my brother will leave a comment describing just how excited he is at the opportunity.