Day 43 - Skyfall

Woke up early this morning to get myself ready for the day.

Was a bit perturbed at the weather I could see out of the window: "red sky at night, shepherds' delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd' warning". Did this mean that we were in for rain today? The Met Office website did not agree, so I shall go with them... But I shall still pack my wets and an umbrella, just in case.

It was an early start as I needed to get to my destination by 08:00 this morning and was very nervous about getting snarled up in the giant car park that is the A3/M25 Junction 10 near Cobham.  This saw me leaving the house before 7 o'clock... and arriving far too early!  Still better than being late and hassled though.

One of the privileges of being a member at Burhill aged over 55 is the option of playing in the Vets Friendly Matches that are organised against neighbouring clubs.  Today, the opponents were the Elders of Hankley Common Golf Club.

Hankley is located south of Guildford and is one of Surrey's golfing gems (IMHO).  It hosts an Open Qualifier for the 5th time this year (before passing the mantle to Burhill New Course), which is a testament to the fact that others rate it too!  Despite the fact that a lot of work had clearly been done on the course, it was in great condition: lots of heather in front and to the sides, just waiting there to gobble up any errant shots!

Hankley Common is also well known for something else: areas around the course were used as a film set in the 2012 James Bond film, Skyfall, being passed off as the Scottish countryside for the final climactic shoot-out. Given the amount of noise they made, I hope there was no golf going on at the time!

Matches at Hankley are all in Fensomes Format: played in teams of two, each player drives off on every hole followed by alternate shots to the hole, with one player taking all the second shots on the odd holes and the other on the evens.  My partner, Richard, and I started off with a majestic birdie but failed to maintain this form throughout. We did though emerge victors 2&1 and the Burhill team also won the day by 4 1/2 to 3 1/2.  After play, we were treated to a splendid carvery lunch, with some classic English deserts to follow.  All in all a splendid day... and not a drop of rain!

Day 42 - Spring Forward, Fall Back

As I am sure that everyone in the UK remembered, last night the clocks went forward, moving us off Greenwich Mean Time onto British Summer Time.  This meant that we all had an hour fewer in bed last night which, in combination with the Met Office's dire projections for the day, probably explain why the golf course was deserted this morning.

I too decided to give golf a miss today but had to run by the Club to pick up clubs, shoes and trolley for a match tomorrow.  Inevitably, I ended up in the bar and had a couple of drinks with some of the members who had actually braved the elements (though I am not sure what they made of the mower which had broken down on the 6th Green of the Old!). Immovable Obstruction?

As ever, the papers this morning are full of articles purporting to make a case for abolishing Summer Time, or Winter time, or both...  Arguments about Scottish farmers and schoolchildren abound. More interesting was the Radio 4 programme hosted by the omnipresent Stephen Fry on Radio 4 on Saturday. Thanks to the wonders of BBC iPlayer, this is available for all at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk5qqhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk5qq.

Our children, and their children, will never know a world where once you had missed a programme, it was gone, unless you were lucky enough to chance upon a repeat many months hence.  With the iPlayer, Radio 4 Extra and the On Demand service, we really are spoiled for choice nowadays. If I listened to everything wanted to, there'd be no time for any golf....

Day 41 - A Charitable Round

One of the great privileges of being Captain of a Golf Club is to be able, together with the Lady Captain, to choose your charity of choice.  There is an art to this, in choosing something that will resonate with members, whilst at the same time trying to find the right balance between hectoring and cajoling for donations. I hope that Diana and I find the right balance between the latter, but either way I am convinced that we have made a good choice as to the former. Our charity of choice is the Princess Alice Hospice - and, as anyone who has been involved with the charity knows, they do a fantastic job of providing supportive care for those in the community who are reaching the ends of their allotted time. Recently, they have started a programme to provide care in people's house as well as in the hospice itself, something which is to be welcomed and supported.

When I went into the Club office today, I was delighted to see my in-tray overflowing with positive responses from local golf clubs who have reacted so positively to my entreaty to donate free rounds of golf for the Charity. We shall use these to auction off at an appropriate time for the Charity and  I already have my eye on the four-ball donated by Sunningdale....


At least I earned £25 for Prince Alice today, as we had our first Captain & Pro challenge, a competition where members have signed up to play the two of us in foursomes format, paying the aforesaid pony for the privilege.  At the end of the year, the pair who produce the best result will be awarded a bottle of champagne each at the AGM in February 2016.

So far, after our first match, we are 0 for 1... Mike Evans and I played today against Chris Hadfield and Gordon Tomkins, who came out of the blocks like the proverbial bat: before we could get ourselves organised, we were a couple of holes down and spent the rest of the round hanging on to their coat-tails and exploiting the few errors they made. We managed to square things on the 17th hole and, on the last, with both balls some 20 feet from the hole, were going to be reasonably content with the half...until Chris holed his second long birdie putt of the day and that was that!

Golf (and the Charity) were the real winners though as we had a great game, played in excellent spirits, and the result didn't really matter (he says through gritted teeth....!).

Day 40 - Short Back and Sides

A frustrating morning: left the house promptly for a trip to the barbers - KlassCuts (or is it ClassKuts) in Stoke d'Abernon - either way, I can recommend them!) only to find that I hadn't been quick enough and that others had beaten me to it.  This meant that I got the opportunity for my bimonthly read of both the Sun and the Mirror.  Interesting to read the very different accounts of yesterday's prime ministerial "debates": you had to wonder whether they were reporting on the same events!

Thence a trip to the DX facilities near Heathrow to collect my newly US-Visa-stamped-passport. Not easy to find (particularly using my car's aged SatNav!) and, once I got there, even more difficult to locate the correct Reception.  Third time lucky and then a (very) long wait before before finally being handed my document pack. [Memo to self: next time, pay the £18 to have the passports delivered to my home address!]

Fortunately the afternoon had more to offer. First on the agenda was an hour or so working with Mike, our Head Professional, to get the draw done for this year's Scratch Knockout and to sort out a few other competitions.  Then, with the sun coming out and definite signs of spring (though still a chilly wind!), Mrs L and I had a very pleasant eight holes around the Old Course, followed by a pint of Youngs and a slice of carrot cake (one each that is....).

Modern technology came to the rescue in the evening: I got to watch the England football international on SkyGo on my laptop whilst we both caught up with the latest episodes of Indian Summers on Sky+.  Who said men cannot multi-task?

Day 39 - A View from the Bridge

A working day today: up to Town for an Ofwat Board meeting. Met a friend on the train and chatted the whole way to Waterloo. Not sure the lady next to me was too impressed, but it was ages since we had seen each other and we had lots of catching up to do.  At least I wasn't on the phone...

The board meeting finished in the early afternoon which gave me time to visit The Wolseley for tea with the daughter of a school-friend of my mother's who was visiting London from San Francisco.  The Wolseley was absolutely packed: they really have carved out a great niche for themselves - for me, it's one of the Number One places for a working breakfast (but do book first!) and I was surprised to see how busy they were in the middle of the afternoon.

Just caught the train to get home in time to get to the Odeon in Esher for an NT screening of the Young Vic's staging of "A View From The Bridge", by Arthur Miller. 

Wow.... we hadn't seen the play before and were bowled away by the performances by all of the actors, as well as the minimalist staging and dramatic ending.  I shall be very surprised if Mark Strong, Nicola Walker and Phoebe Fox don't pick up a host of awards for this.

We thoroughly recommend the play: two hours of high quality, intense drama.  It was also the first time that we had been to one of these National Theatre screenings and I thought it was excellent (and a lot easier than schlepping up to London...).  As we left, we bumped into two other Burhill families, so we clearly weren't the only ones to have had the same idea!

Day 38 - Quack, quack

Another one of those days when I ask myself: how on earth did I fit in a day job into my schedule?  An hour's IG work in the morning, getting competitions set up and preparing for the Easter weekend, before it was time for another lawn-cutting exercise (at this rate we shall have justified getting rid of the gardeners and purchasing a new lawn mower very soon!). 

Then a trip up to London for a couple of meetings with head-hunters (including the one I missed the other week!), both of which seemed to go well, but we shall see....

All of which got me back to Surrey in time for an early evening of meetings at the Golf Club.  Tonight there was a planning meeting with the General Manager, the Head Professional and the Vice Captain to make sure that we had our ducks in a row for the weeks and months ahead.

No peace for the wicked...as  we headed off after this straight into the first meeting of the Club Committee.  This is something that I chair as Club captain and is where some of the wider Club issues are discussed. The danger is that we either re-discuss matters that have already been covered elsewhere or else get dragged down into the weeds: I think we managed to avoid both of these pitfalls tonight. Let's hope that we can maintain that for the rest of the year!

Day 37 - Ménage à trois

We have had a few personnel changes at the Club, with our well-respected Director of Golf exiting his role. This is going to lead to a reallocation of roles and responsibilities between those working at Burhill so I went in early this morning to have a chat with Mike Evans, our Head Professional, to run through some of the things that will now fall within his orbit.

I hope that by working closely together we can help ensure that nothing falls between the cracks and that (competitive) golf at Burhill continues to be as well-supported as it has been of late.

The admin over, it was time for our regular Tuesday game.  We had had a number of drop-outs (bad backs, doctor's appointments and other excuses) so ended up as a three-ball.  A brief discussion on the tee followed and a Skins game it was. 

This was all the rage on TV some 20 years ago or so, but the ratings then collapsed when Tiger Woods dropped out.  At one point, players were earning $1 million dollars plus for competiting in these made-for-TV events.  Not bad for an afternoon's golf!

Our stakes were a little more modest: after 18 holes, two of us had accumulated 10p each...

Day 36 - Godric's Hollow

As a child, I was brought up in Antwerp in Belgium, where my father had moved with his job in the shipping industry.  My parents ended up staying there for more than 25 years, finally deciding to come back to the UK in 1980.  Work meant that Dad had to base himself in East Anglia and, after getting to know their newly adopted counties of Suffolk and Essex, they chose to make Lavenham their new home.

Lavenham Guildhall

Lavenham is a picture postcard village, according to some is England's finest mediaeval village, and boasts one of the finest collection of half-timbered houses to be seen anywhere, as well as a splendid 15th Century church.  Visitors (and there are lots of them) are always surprised at the size of the latter, but at one point Lavenham was amongst the 20 wealthiest settlements in the country.

Warner Brothers' version

Despite all of that, many may be more interested to note that the village was chosen as being the site of Godric's Hollow for the film adaptation of the final Harry Potter book (despite not being in the West Country). As all Potterologists will know this is where Harry's parents were killed by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

And Lavenham was my destination for the day for  visit with my mother. It's a two-hour drive from Cobham, very easy when the motorways behave like they did on the way up and indeed the way home as well!

Home again in time for a swift change of clothes as Burhill are giving a dinner for the Captains at the Club tonight.  This was a good occasion to sit down and have a good run through some of the key areas of concern, both from the perspective of Management and Members.  Discussion was frank and sincere and all agreed that it was a very useful evening.

Day 35 - After The Lord Mayor's Show

After all the excitement of yesterday, Sunday was relatively quiet. Turned up at the Club to play a casual 3-ball in what we hoped would be some Spring sunshine. Unfortunately that didn't arrive until we approached the 18th green, which must be why all three of our games were so dismal.  We did though manage to enjoy a sausage bap on the 8th (thanks, Tony!) and a glass of something non-alcoholic afterwards (see yesterday's post...!).

The Clubhouse too was far from busy: there was definitely an "after the Lord Mayor's Show" feeling about the place.  Still, I am not sure that my body, my nerves or my liver could survive too many days of such high quality entertainment as that.

So, back home for a peaceful afternoon's doze in front of the football, though the noise emanating from the TV coverage of the Man Utd - Liverpool derby was never exactly going to be conducive to the rest I had promised myself.

My turn to cook tonight: not too much work but should be a good spread for son and guest. On the menu is roasted rib of beef, twice-cooked baked potatoes, creamed spinach and ginger carrot purée. I for one am hungry...

Day 34 - An Exciting Final Day

Where to begin?  With the Rugby or the Nations' Cup?

Ok, we'll start with the important stuff... The sun shone.. a bit... the wind blew...a bit.. and it was cold.. a lot! Despite that, there was a very exciting finish to the Nations Cup at Burhill.   As it turned out, all the drama around who would finish in second, third and fourth places was academic as England managed a resounding victory over Europe by 5 1/2 to 1 1/2 which made the results of all the other games interesting but not relevant.  The final table had England in first place, Rest of the World in second (hurrah!), Wales in third and after that it was all rather a blur...

The less abstemious of the brethren hung on at Burhill for the final game of the real Six Nations: and what a cracker it was!  The Irish had set the bar very high with a convincing 40-10 win over the Scots in Murrayfield. This meant that to win the Championship, England needed to beat France by a clear 26 points,

A very early try had the Twickenham hearts racing, but it was not to be. An England win remained a real possibility right until the end of what was a pulsating and high scoring game.  Yes, England delivered a victory but the margin of 20 points was just six shy of that which was needed.  Great fun, with 90 points scored in the game (when was the last time you saw that at Twickenham?) , but for the Anglos amongst us just not quite enough...

All of which means that Scotland picked up the wooden spoon and England won the Nations Cup... with some other, alternative, results in the rugby, but who cares anyway? There is a World Cup to come....

P.S. After the Nations Cup lunch, we had a small pitching competition onto the 18th New green - here is your Captain getting very excited about almost holing his effort...

Day 33 - Eclipse? Wot Eclipse?

Well, the weather was clearly against us southerners this morning.  I attach a copy of my brother's photograph from Durham so that we can see what we missed...  I also liked the Twitter wit who posted his own Jaffa Cake version to make up for the fact that all he could see was clouds!

In my case, it was a bit academic anyway as I had an appointment at 10 am at the US Embassy to renew my visa.  Somewhat naively, I had envisioned turning up for an interview and then heading promptly home.  Fool.... there was a queue to join a queue to have one's papers checked for the first time, then a security check, then another queue to have the same papers checked again. Then we were given a number (N368 in my case) and admitted to the waiting room...which was packed! And as I entered, they were calling the applicant with N147.

An hour or so later, I was called to the desk to have exactly the same papers checked again and my fingerprints taken. At this point, they kept my passport and told me to take a seat and wait until I was called.  This took a further hour and a half: in total, I was there for three hours, survived on a dreadful cup of over-stewed coffee and a KitKat even more expensive than on the Burhill trolley (!), but at least my visa application was approved...

Displaying some sort of perverted sense of humour, the clouds broke in the afternoon and by the time I got to the Golf Club for a few practice swings before the big day tomorrow, it was a glorious spring afternoon. I even managed to lower the roof on the car n the way home.  Back for a cup of tea and a wash-and-brush-up before driving back to Burhill for a belated St. Patrick's Day Dinner and Dance.

And a very pleasant evening it was, though it would have been even better had there been a higher turn-out. The food was as good as always, the company entertaining and the live music also hit the spot, though perhaps not as danceable-to as one might have wished.  The desserts were excellent too - and not a Jaffa cake in sight...

Day 32 - Home of The King

Today is Thursday, so it must be the first day of another PGA tournament.  This time around, they are playing at Bay Hill, just outside Orlando. As ever, it's fun to watch the professionals play a course that you have actually played yourself.

We enjoyed ourselves when we were there a couple of years ago, staying at the Lodge, and were amazed to see Arnold Palmer himself taking the opportunity to get some putting practice in on "his" course.

Not sure who will do well today: as ever, we shall be following the Brits in general and Messrs McIlroy, Poulter and Casey in particular. It's about time one of them did well, so we live in hope.

Hope was much in evidence today at Burhill too as seven of us teed up for our regular Disorganised game.  Hope that the weather would be kind (which it wasn't - too cold!), hope that we would play well (not really...) and hope that we would have fun (big tick!).

I drew the four ball and we not only had a great match (which depended on the final putt on the final hole) but on returning to the bar discovered that that selfsame (missed) putt meant that we had been pipped by a single point by the three ball: a great example of how the handicapping system means that different ability levels can play against each other and have a cracking game!

Is there another sport out there that can deliver the same excitement (and don't say croquet...!)?

Day 31 - Busy Day at the (non) Office

Lots going on today.  Every year at Burhill, there are a couple of matches between "the Staff and the Committee". In this case Staff means anyone working for the Golf Club - Greenkeepers, Maintenance, Professionals and Administrative staff are all eligible. And the Committee is normally represented by an equal blend of members of the Ladies and Men's Committees.  As such it's a great mix of people who normally do not get the chance to play together.

I was paired with Diana, the Lady Captain, and our opponents were Roy and Kevin.  The weather was kind, thought the wind was biting at times, and we had a very convivial game.  Diana and I got ahead early and managed to hang on until the 17th when the match was level. We just squeezed a win on the last to end one up.

Overall, the match was very close, with a number of matches being decided on the final green, and on this occasion the Committee managed to eke out a 4-3 win and thereby retained the trophy. Next match is on 22nd October.

After this, a meeting with Steve and Jan to discuss Club Matches and how to take them forwards kept me busy up to the start of the Social Committee Meeting.  Not a great deal on the agenda, though a lot of preparatory work had been carried out to look at two events scheduled for later in the year: the Cross Country and our first Night Golf event.

We closed the meeting and then headed out to the first tee to try out playing golf in the dark: torches at the ready, glow-in-the-dark balls provided and markers laid out to define the edges of the fairway and indicate hazards.  A fun time was had by all: we all agreed that it was harder than it looked and that we should probably go for the option of hiring a specialist company to support us rather than the DIY option... If the weather is kind, we should have a lot of fun: mark your calendars for the end of October!

Day 30 - Perfection

I have heard the quotation referred to as being by Gary Player and Lee Trevino, but I believe it was Arnold Palmer who coined the expression: "It's a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get!".  Whichever, it's a nice turn of phrase and one that came to mind this morning. After my round last Sunday, I definitely needed to get luckier... so off to the practice area today.

We are blessed at Burhill with some great practice facilities although I didn't get any further than the range this afternoon. It was nice to try out the new balls I had been told about and also to work out what I had been doing wrong the other day.  That being said, the young man in the bay next to me was hitting the same balls with a similar club and they were going a lot further than mine, so maybe it's more than luck that I require. Monkey glands anyone?


No such practice required to make my lunch today. Having been brought up as a child in Antwerp, and having since lived in the Netherlands on two separate occasions, I am well able to make myself an uitsmijter for lunch. And very good it was too!

Day 29 - Monday, Monday

When I was in full time employment, Mondays were not my favourite day of the week - especially after a busy Sunday.  Nowadays, things are much more relaxed.  A lazy start to the day: coffee, orange juice and a scan of the news headlines.  Quick check of the online diary: a couple of things to do, but not too hectic.

First order of the day was to go to collect my car from the Golf Club: it had stayed there last night as we came home too late to make the diversion via Burhill.  Arrived there about 10:30 and the place was deserted: clearly other members are also not keen on Mondays... that or the fact that it was grey and damp. Took the opportunity to check in at the Sales Office to reserve our places for Friday's St. Patrick's Day event. Looks like a fun evening!

Next stop Cobham for a six-monthly contact lens check and a quick run through Waitrose, as I am cooking tonight.  No great rush as I am due to catch the 14:57 train to get to a 16:00 video conference at a head-hunter's up in Town.   A leisurely lunch and off to the station.

Everything on time, changed onto the Victoria Line and arrived at my destination near Green Park with 15 minutes to spare... only to discover that the meeting had been set for 12:00 and I was actually 4 hours late.  Aargh.... I checked my emails and realised that I had confused today's date with the appointment time.

Back home with my metaphorical tail between my legs: I remain a fan of my online diary, but maybe I need a secretary. Any volunteers?

Day 28 - Mothering Sunday

Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Traditionally, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family... At least that is what we were taught at school. 

And it must be part of the reason why the car park at the golf club was empty when I got there at 7:45 this morning. The other reason soon became obvious: the East wind was still blowing, there was rain in the air and it was c o l d!

I had the Captain's starting slot at 8:45 for the first time. It all started quite brightly with a stone dead birdie on 3, but after the turn the wheels came off... My brief spell as a single figure golfer has now ended: 10 days at 9.4 and now back to 9.5, but nobody can ever take away the fact that I have been there!

Time for a quick pint after the golf, then we battled up the A3 to Clapham.  A Mothering Sunday lunch with les enfants, tea and cake in front of the rugby and thence to the cinema to see the latest Will Smith vehicle "Focus".  Diverting but not worth a special trip was the family's conclusion; it was fun to see plenty of shots of Buenos Aires though...

Day 27 - HQ

Where on earth did that East wind come from? I thought that Spring had sprung? As we stood on the first tee at 0845, my son and I had no idea quite how biting the wind was to become. Indeed for the first few holes the sun shone and we were fooled into thinking that we were in for a warm and pleasant day. Well, one out of two ain't bad...

We had a great match play game: he won 2&1 but if I had holed that birdie putt on the 17th, who knows? Mind you, if he'd have holed his (closer) putt, I know exactly what would have happened!

As we went around, we had half an eye on the duel behind us: the Hylton/Waymire pair stormed to a 4 hole advantage in the Autumn Mixed Foursomes semi-final but were eventually hauled in on the 17th by their opponents, Richards/O'Sullivan - epic stuff. 

A swift drink, a bolted lunch and a rapid shower later and it was time to head off to Twickenham. I was the fortunate recipient of a corporate invite to the England/Scotland game. Fun though it was to be plied with cordon blue food and unlimited drink, I can honestly say that I prefer the more homespun version of bratwurst and two-pint beers with my son. Fortunately, we do have tickets for the England-France pre-World Cup game in August. 

As to the 6 Nations, well it's almost as well poised as the Burhill Nations Cup tournament which will come to a head next Saturday. Just in time to watch the "other competition" decider between England and France.  The Twickenham hosts will need to be more clinical than they were today if they want to come out on top...

Day 26 - Art Attack

Another bright spring day, another day without golf... Still went up to the Club though to meet with the General Manager and the Director of Golf just to run through a couple of things ahead of the weekend's golf and in preparation for the Easter weekend, when we have three tournaments planned.  Didn't stay long though as we had plans for the afternoon.

Kathryn and I went up to Battersea to attend the first day of the Affordable Art Fair.  We have been going for the past few years off and on, and have usually come back with something. It's such a great concept: it must house more than 50 galleries under one roof and the rules are that everything on sale must be priced at between £100-£5,000.

The doors opened at midday and we arrived just after 1 pm, so I was surprised to see how many people were already there, tucking into the wine and snacks available and, by the look of the queue to have artwork packed up for shipping, buying with gusto!

We did a quick recce before spending a bit more time at some of the galleries that took our fancy. Sometimes you just wish that you had a big house with lots of white walls, as some of the art is stupendous, but would never work in a domestic context.  We did though pick up a couple of paintings and have been busy ever since trying to rearrange pictures to fit them in!

On the way home we stopped off for tea and cakes at my daughter's flat just off Northcote Road. Every time I go there, I am always blown away by the energy and life in that part of London: she is a lucky girl!

Then home to make dinner for the Prodigal S who is home tonight. This time, it's an Angela Hartnett recipe for ox cheeks with rosemary polenta: one of the family's favourites!  And it also merits opening a decent bottle of red: a seriously grown-up South African wine called "Chocolate Block". Yum...

Day 25 - Capital Fun

The alarm went off at 0630 thus morning as I was to take the 0727 train up to London. Memories flooded back of the daily commute that I somehow survived for so many years. I am not sure how I coped!

Up To Town because the morning was full of meetings at Ofwat, where I have a role as a Non Executive Director. First on the agenda was a workshop on the Thames Tideway Tunnel (as an aside, if you missed the £15 Billion Railway on BBC2, you should set your iPlayer immediately!).  Then a couple more Committee meetings before it was time to meet Mrs L for lunch. 

We had chosen the restaurant at the top of the Walkie Talkie building at 20 Fenchurch Street.

Prior to finding our table, we had a wander through the rooftop gardens, as well as a look at the great views across London.  Lunch was a pleasant surprise: excellent food and not over priced though the laconic French waiter was a bit much!

Thence to the Inventing Impressionists exhibition at the National Gallery: just the right size to enjoy but not be overwhelmed. A quick cup if tea before sending our way to the National Theatre for the epic performance by Ralph Fiennes in Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. A long play at 3 hours plus but, as ever at the National,  fantastic sets and a large cast. Fiennes's performance was a tour de force - just learning all those lines...!

Amused myself on the way home testing my knowledge of the Rules of Golf. The R&A have a great app that not only provides a rule book but also an entertaining  quiz that you can play.

I regret to say that I cannot manage a 10/10 score every time!

Day 24 - Manual Labour

My task this morning was to write a letter to all the golf clubs in the area to request that they make a donation in the form of a free round of golf, which we could then auction at the Club in order to raise funds for our Captains' charity, the Princess Alice hospice.  Bit of a long shot, I know, but "if you don't ask, you don't get" so it's worth a try. 

Speaking for myself, I have bought rounds in such auctions in the past for Betchworth Park Golf Club and the New Zealand Golf Club to name but two, so I know that there is the demand.  We shall see what sort of response I get... 

Fortunately, I am reasonably proficient in Microsoft Word so that, with the help of the Mail Merge function, I managed to run off letters and envelopes with minimal manual effort, but it still took all morning!

My next job was to assemble a new lawn mower, which we had recently purchased online from Amazon.  Despite the lamentably poor instructions (the low quality black and white photos with illegible text ended up being less help rather than more), I managed to put the machine together. After filling up with petrol and lubricants, I was pleasantly surprised that the engine started first time.  As a result, we now have a newly mown lawn, though I have not managed to replicate the beautiful lines that our gardeners used to...  all suggestions welcome!

The weather still looked positive this afternoon, so Mrs L and I decided to head over to the Club for a quick 9 holes in the spring sunshine. It wasn't until I got there that I remembered that I had removed my driver from my bag the previous day. As a result, a 3 wood off the tee was order of the day, with, in all honesty, only a minimal impact on my score: something I am sure that others will recognise!

Day 23 - Cauliflower, Cup and Committee

First the non-golf stuff!  I was in charge of dinner tonight and opted for a vegetarian option for a change. Went for a Cauliflower Cake - "somewhere between a quiche and a cake" the recipe said.  As it turned out, it was perhaps better for a brunch than a dinner but it made the perfect snack when I eventually got home at 9:30 pm.

Yes it was a late one tonight. Although I didn't leave home till after mid-day, there was lots to do.  I had hoped to get a bit of practice in, but before I knew it, it was time to meet up with my opponent for the first round of the Anglo American Cup.  The competition was first run in 1955 and was donated by a number of American members in thanks for the appreciation of the welcome they had received at Burhill. This is now the premier handicap knock-out event at Burhill and this year it has a record entry: 174 members have entered, so the winner will need to survive 8 rounds...  I had been drawn against Gavin B, like me a previous winner of the competition, playing off 6, so I knew I was in for a tough game.

When we stepped onto the first tee of the Old, there was no-one in sight and yet it was a lovely Spring day: where was everyone?  As things panned out, we had the course to ourselves and barely saw anybody else out there.  The match itself was all decided on the greens: after 7 holes, I had established a 3 hole lead and then, before I knew it (thanks to 3 three-putts...) I was standing on the 14th tee 2 down.  A couple of good holes saw us all square on the 17th and somehow I managed to get my final putt in on the 18th for a victory, one up.  A great game, played swiftly and in good spirits - just how golf is supposed to be!

A couple of drinks in the Clubhouse and then it was time for the Men's Committee meeting: the first of my Captaincy.  A lot of ground was covered and it was great to see the level of engagement from both the established as well as the newly elected members. If we can keep this going, we might actually achieve something in the year ahead!

Day 22 - A Curate's Egg

I got up bright and early this morning for not one but two reasons: firstly, to follow England's progress in the World Cup Down Under and secondly, because some engineers were due to visit for some help with our electricity supplies.

As far as the first was concerned, I should have stayed in bed. How embarrassing for all concerned for us to get unceremoniously booted out of the competition by "minnows" Bangladesh.  Throughout all the matches of this very lengthy group phase, IMHO the England XI have looked as if they are playing a different game from all the other sides who seem to have muscled up and sought to transfer their Twenty20 skills to the longer ODI version: we, on the other hand, seem to be playing a shorter version of a five day Test match... at least losing now has saved us from being thoroughly thrashed in the Quarter Finals!

The second visit was much more interesting: as some may be aware, I am in the process of buying an Electric Vehicle for which a charging post is required in the garage. We had also been looking at switching out our gas hob and replacing it with an induction one.   Somewhat to my surprise, we would not be allowed to have both - the sum of the two of them, plus the electric oven, would put us at risk of burning out the wires that lead to our property.  We have our thinking caps on as to which of the possible solutions: running a 3-phase supply to the house, accepting some form of physical breaker switch which would preclude charging the car and cooking at the same time or rethinking completely our plans.

The Curate's Egg of a day improved dramatically when I went up to Town to meet a former colleague for lunch: we ate at my favourite Sardinian restaurant near Victoria Station, Olivomare. When I was working this was my Go-To lunch spot and it was fun returning. If you ever fancy a tasty, if not over-grand, fish place in London I recommend it wholeheartedly.  Ever since it featured in the Britiush Airways Highlife magazine you do need to book though!

And yes, I did pop into the Club to pick up some letter headed paper: an evening of letter writing seeking donations for our Captains' Charity awaits..