Sue's notes to self

Okay, so it’s normally ‘friend or foe’, but this is an entirely different issue. Here I am discussing what constitutes a friendly, loving gift and a fiendish, challenging one.

The story goes like this. Both my husband and I (that sounds pretentious) like puzzles. Each morning we have a go at those online challenges like ‘Wordle’ and ‘Nerdle’ which we both do, while I try various others. They wake the brain up in the morning if you are lucky. It’s not a competition but we both take delight in getting the answer in less attempts than the other. We both like the IQ testing riddles that you get every now and then too.

When it comes to puzzles he likes the manipulative ones where you have to try and get the shapes apart and then get them back together. I have bought him so many I have to be careful that I don’t double up. He has not done them all, as some are quite hard, but at least he can put them away and get them out another day.

I like jigsaw puzzles. When we first met we swapped our Shmuzzle puzzles – where all the pieces were small salamanders and the colours were similar. I have also been given several of those beautiful puzzles which are many colours and lots of pieces, no two alike and no edges. They are hard enough, but the latest takes the prize for fiendishness.

I once expressed a liking for the wrapping of an eco-product of some description (now forgotten). It was recycled paper printed with lots of sea creatures interspersed with lots of rubbish. I thought it might make a good visual aid at some point.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that they would produce a jigsaw of said paper! It’s all one colour background. The picture on the box is too small to see. The creatures and accompanying trash repeat throughout the puzzle, but orientated differently. There are 1000 pieces. I have already been at it for over a month, because, quite frankly, you can’t do too much at once. By taking a photo of the box on the iPad I have made it possible to see the picture. If only it was exactly the same! I have sorted many of the pieces by type – bottles, eels, octopi and squids, turtles, plastic bags, oil cans, rays etc. I then sorted the remaining pieces by shape. There are at least 10 piles and 4 boxes as a result. Putting even one piece in place is celebrated, but I get a headache and neck ache so quickly that there is a long way to go.

Now, tell me, is that not a fiendish gift? Then, the gall of it, to complain that I am taking up the dining table and he has nowhere to eat breakfast! Not my fault! So meals might be a bit later when I get carried away looking for a missing piece. Not my fault!

I ask you, who in their right mind would want such a puzzle? Me, obviously. After the initial frustration of taking several days to just get the edges done, it has got easier as the number of remaining pieces gets smaller. I will persist, against the odds. I expect it to take another few weeks at least.

Will I ever do this one again? Highly unlikely. Is it fiendish? Definitely. Will I pass it on to someone else so they can suffer too? Now, there’s a fiendish thought!

Sue, February (plus January and probably March) 2024