Day 346 - A Small World

A few days ago, I had planned for a quiet day today having completely forgotten that I had promised a friend, Duncan, to host a colleague of his who is looking for a golf club to join in the Surbiton Area.

This is how I found myself acting as part tour guide, part ambassador for the Club and part Captain on a Saturday morning.  Duncan and Matt had driven together and were waiting for me in the Lounge when I arrived. Introductions over, we decided to head out for some golf.  Given that Matt wanted to see what Burhill was all about, we opted for 9 holes on the Old first, and then play the New later.

Given that the conditions were not great, we decided to play a Skins game but halfway through it was clear that the 18 handicap we had allocated Matt was probably not quite enough: he hasn't played for a number of years and, despite all the length and strength that you would expect from a 29 year old, will need to take a few lessons if and when he joins.

After the first 9 holes, we walked around the Clubhouse and did a tour of the practice areas (very impressed they were!).  Then we proceeded down to the New Course and played holes 1 through 9 there in what ended up in being quite pleasant winter sunshine.  Duncan won the game on the last hole after he and I had been pretty evenly matched throughout.

Next stop was lunch at The Green - a very quiet and empty Green for a Saturday lunchtime, it must be said.  Lunch was filling and good value though and I think that Matt was impressed with everything he saw, and I am sure he'd fit in very well if he decides to join: on vera!

A view across the Zugersee

Actually that should be: wir werden sehen...  We discovered through lunch that both Matt and I had lived in Zug, Switzerland, with his house being quite close to where we had lived, albeit with a 20 year gap!  Matt had also married a Swiss girl he met out there and clearly spoke fluent German.  With that and his oil trading background, we had plenty to talk about...

Day 345 - Prize Giving

I had put my name down as a "maybe" for this morning's golf but, when I opened the curtains and saw that it wasn't actually raining and that the forecast for the day was for 11°C (that's 52°F), I decided that I'd give it a go.  When I go to Burhill (only just on time as the traffic was dire...), the wind was howling and when, for some reason, we had opted for the New Course, I questioned again why I was out there. But shouldn't have: I had a very companionable three-ball, playing with Andy and Des, and although the golf itself was pretty dire, a good time was had by all and it was great to see Andy back on the course after a 6-month post-op layoff.

A quick non-alcoholic drink and then back home to prepare for the evening. Tonight, we are holding the awards Dinner.  This is a relatively recent innovation at the Club and is the occasion when we invite all the 2015 Competition winners to dinner and present them with their prizes, and just as importantly, the chance for them to get a photo taken holding what are some seriously large pieces of silverware.

In previous years, the Awards ceremony had been followed by a speech from the Director of Golf, reminiscing a bit about his time on the Tour.  Pip is no longer at the Club and, anyway, it was probably time for a change.  We had thought about paying for a sporting celebrity to address the dinner but had left it too late to get anything organised, which meant that the buck stopped at the Captain's door.

Lots of Prizes...

Turnout for the evening was very good, though some of the key winners hadn't been able to make it, which was a shame. Nevertheless, we had 80+ people in attendance and around 2/3rds of the prizes would be handed over to their rightful owners.  The food for the evening was very good and the room was in high spirits once we moved onto the actual distribution of the silverware.

Tom, Steve and I had had a rehearsal earlier in the evening and, as it turned out, had set things up pretty well.  Steve, as VC, handled the master of ceremonies' duties efficiently, Tom found the right prize to hand over and I managed to smile 100+ times for the cameras: the whole thing went very smoothly and did not take anything like the length of time we feared (too many memories of long, boring, school prize-givings in the back of our minds!).

I then took over the floor and shared what was I hope a vaguely amusing retrospective on my year as Captain - a great way of rehearsing my AGM speech, even if I did allow myself more latitude than I shall in two weeks time: this was after all, a well-lubricated male audience...  Speech over, Steve closed of proceedings and we migrated downstairs to the bar.

One of the downsides of a Dry January is that you feel a bit out of things at these times. Nevertheless, it wasn't until gone 11:30 pm that I drove home, happy that everything had gone well and a good time had by all!

Day 344 - A Lucky Day

I spent all day in London today; our monthly Ofwat Board Meeting kept me there until late afternoon after which I decided to walk along Oxford Street from the office in Bloomsbury.  I took the opportunity to pop into John Lewis and saw a scarf that took my fancy: on presenting my card for payment at the till, I was then delighted to discover that it had been marked down by 50%: result!

For some reason, everything worked: I then took the tube from Bond Street back to Waterloo and arrived at the correct platform to catch the Cobham train just 1 minute after its planned departure - and it was still at the station, running a few minutes late. This was great news as I no longer had to hang around for the half an hour that I had feared. It's always nice when things work out in your favour like that.

Back home in plenty of time to work on tomorrow's Friday e-mail (only 2 more to go!) before getting ready for the evening. Diana had kindly invited me to supper tonight. It was to be the occasion where she, as current Lady Captain, passed on to Sally, as the incoming one, her embroidered lady Captain's sweater - and very nice it looked too.

Ann, the new Vice Captain, was there and Anna, the immediate Past Captain, so we were encircled by Captains of various ranks.  Fortunately, available partners were also invited and a very pleasant evening was had by all.  Kieran and I though are still on our Dry January sentences and were on best behaviour.

And I only complained about there being no tradition of a Burhill Men's Captain's jumper once...or was it twice?

Day 343 - Feathering our Nest

Fortunately, the weather was most uninviting today as I had to be home... I had two appointments for some technical work to be done at home and there was a huge contrast between the service being offered.  One, the large corporation, had informed me that the engineer would be coming at some point between "8 pm and 5 pm", while the other, much more of a one man band, ha committed to arriving at 3 pm.

I was somewhat surprised that the man from Sky TV did not in fact text earlier to say what time he was due to arrive, though to be fair, mid morning, I did re-check my appointment online and find that he had narrowed his arrival window to 2-4 pm.  And it was pretty close to 2 pm that he rolled up. He was a pleasant guy and it took him about 30 mins to check the offending connections, restore the box to factory settings and get us back online. I was slightly irritated that not more work was required as we have had constant problems with this piece of kit but shall cross my fingers and hope that he has mended it for good.

At the end of his visit, my second engineer called to advise me that his previous job had taken much longer than he had expected and that he wouldn't be with me until 4:30 pm.  Hmm.. this could be a problem as I am due at the Club tonight at 7 for a Club Committee meeting...

Liviu (it turned out that he was of Romanian extraction) arrived at the allotted time and set to work. He was here to install a new electronic thermostat to control the central heating and water boiler. It is a piece of technology that i have been looking at for a while and the new generation of the Nest system seems to give me waht I was looking for: the ability to activate the systems remotely from PC or phone as well as a smart thermostat that will learn how we we like to operate our heating and adapt accordingly.  We hall see....!

I had a good chat with Liviu though who personifies everything you read about the hard-working Eastern European immigrant: he was a young man who had been trained at home and has set his own business up here as an accredited Nest installer. He was charming and very efficient - made himself available for any problems if I needed further; he was relaxed about the fact that in was in a hurry and couldn't pay him on the spot: an electronic transfer tomorrow was fine, though he would have welcomed a few more minutes to discuss my Tesla a bit more...!

Off to the Club for my final Club Committee meeting as Chairman: a strange feeling and maybe for the first time, I realised that this role is actually coming to its end: it'll be weird next time to be at one of these meetings as "just" a member of the Committee...

Day 342 - Burhill Day

Definitely a Burhill Day today....

In the morning I played 9 holes with the DOGS: I was partnered with Mark and we had a good matchplay tussle with me inching over the line on the last with a good putt.  Conditions were not easy with a wind blowing and some wet greens, though I was glad to be stopping at the half as it looked as if the rain was coming in for the back nine.  My highlight of the day was hitting onto the par 3 sixth and my ball landing and stopping 8" from the hole, which was situated back left: sweet....

Lunch was at the Green with Matthew, the GM, and Steve, the incoming Captain. It was our first catch-up since the New Year and there was lots to talk about.  Much of the time was spent getting our ducks in a row for the formalities of the weeks ahead; let's hope that the weather play its part!

Then, after nipping home briefly, I was back at the Club at 4 pm for a meeting of the Handicap Committee and the Annual Review of  Handicaps. this is where all players' performances in 2015 are examined and, where appropriate, minor adjustments are made to their handicaps. With a Club the size of Burhill, unaided this would be an impossible task. Fortunately, our IG software generates a report using a CONGU algorithm to highlight where players are consistently playing better, or worse, than their current handicaps. This, together with any other information we could draw on (performance in Knock-outs, Matches etc.), formed the basis for our decisions. Like all such things, an element of judgement is required and I hope and believe that we ended up in the right place.

No time for anything more than a quick drink after that and it was back into the meeting room, this time for the final Men's Committee of my Captaincy.  As ever, this was conducted in good spirits with everyone giving of their time to help ensure that the golf at the Club is managed as well as we can.  I have been extremely grateful for my fellow Committee members' help and advice over the past year(s) - as all other members should be!

Day 341 - Mr Robot Parking

A quite day today: most of spent in front of the computer screen...  This weekend was the final competition of this year's cycle before we carry out the Annual Review of handicaps, meaning that it is now possible to print off the report that IG generates to give the list of all of those players whose are recommended for plus or minus adjustments.  They all had to be written to and will be discussed tomorrow.

For most of the day, the cricket was on in the background but, with the seemingly remorseless progress towards a South African victory, it didn't capture my imagination.  I should be very surprised if the England team last very long tomorrow...

I did have to go down to our local Cobham Waitrose store to pick something up that I had ordered to be delivered there from John Lewis (this "Click and Collect" service is excellent, if anyone hasn't tried it! - despite the fact that they now charge £2 for low-value items).  When I got to the Waitrose carpark, I was delighted to see that there were a few places, a number of which were available for me to test out the car's new AutoPark software. I am glad to report that it worked perfectly though, to start with, I was a bit nervous taking my hands off the wheel and letting the Tesla do its thing.  I got a couple of strange looks from an elderly couple who stood to watch but all worked just fine!

We have been members of the Amazon Prime free delivery service for many years and have only just discovered the options that we now also get for "free": there is a music streaming service (à la Spotify) which we experimented with when in Florida and there are also a number of dedicated TV box sets: last night I got stick into Mr Robot, a tech mystery which picked op some awards at the Golden Globes recently - not for everyone, but I am enjoying it!  And a perfect thing to be watching with Mrs L is Sarasota saying goodbye to her visitors.

Day 340 - Monster Cookies

Today was supposed to be my final Captain and Pro Challenge match but unfortunately the Club were unable to supply a professional to play with me... with Mike's departure to the States, the demand on our professionals' time has increased and Matthew, the Club GM, was also not available.

Nevertheless, I was up bright and early and met up with Martin and Jeremy, my putative challengers for a three-ball game. We were fortunate enough to be first off the tee (apart from a couple of 2-balls who had set off very early (could they even see where they were going?) whom we never saw again.  We decided to play a 4-2-0 game and. tp start with, I was very glad that I was not playing with a Pro as I just couldn't get the pace of the greens right: they were very different from those I had been enjoying in Florida: wet, bumpy and slow... 

Before I knew it, I was miles adrift and, at the turn, it looked as though it was going to be a 2-hores battle between my opponents. As often happens in these games, however, the worm turned and gradually the game tightened.  On the final hole, the 18th, I managed a par which won the hole and meant that I had snuck my way into second place, still two holes back from my namesake but glad to have made a match of it.  We were round in not a lot over 3 hrs so were amongst the first back in the bar. It still being January (only a week of dryness to go..), I enjoyed a Gunners (IMHO the best non-alcoholic option!) and a chat before returning home.

I then spent a few hours catching up on the 4th Test before deciding that I had earned the right for something sweet. There being nothing in the house (temptation is kept at bay at chez Lawrence!), I decided to make some oatmeal and raisin cookies as a treat - and very good they were too!

Like many others, I have recently made the switch to Whattsapp for online conversations with family and friends.  This evening, one of our threads was abuzz with excitement awaiting the result of the USA vs Ireland game being played out by our wives in Florida on the Esplanade course at Lakewood Ranch.   No news by the time I went to bed: they must be out celebrating....

Day 339 - Suits II

A slow start this morning: I did have vague plans of making the 08:00 Roll-up, but the need for a bit of bed-time to help manage the jet-lag meant that I never made it... Instead, a lazy breakfast in front of the cricket was in order.  After that, I drove the car up to Clapham for lunch with my daughter, her fiancé and his parents, at the Northcote Pub, where my son also joined us.

This family meet-up was because we had a date in the afternoon for the purpose of some suit-fitting for the Big Day.  Paul and Caroline had found a specialist retailer in Barking, so it was quite a trek across London (train from Claphan to Waterloo, Jubilee Line to West Ham and then one more stop on the train again to our destination).  The whole process was a bit tiresome, but everyone got fitted and all looked very smart in their blue/grey outfits.

The rest of the party were heading off for a drink at London's highest public garden, but I  had to make my way back to Clapham topick up the car and drive on to Burhill. where we had the annual Pub Quiz.

I hadn't been to this event for a few years but was looking forward to the evening as I always enjoy this kind of thing. I was on a table with the Lady Captain and the Sadlers and Collinson-Joneses, and I think it is fair to say that we were hoping for not too many questions on football or entertainment... and we were happy that this was indeed the case!

The quiz-master for the evening was Tony from Burhill who did a great job: he had come up with a varied set of round formats to keep people on their toes, whilst the questions themselves found the right blend of interest and challenge without being over-difficult.  Our team did very well on a series of cryptic clues to British towns, but dropped too many points in some of the other rounds to win.  The Club served what I thought was a delicious curry (though lasagne was also on offer), all of which made for a very pleasant evening.

Day 338 - Back on Autopilot

British Airways were on top behaviour today: the flight was on time, early if anything, the cabin staff attentive, the food very good and I actually got a few hours sleep (though it does help when you have a flat bed to lie down in...).  We landed on time too, though as we approached the Gatwick terminal, the weather looked anything but inviting: grey, rain and chilly... yippee...

The first thing I did when I got a phone signal was to turn on the heating for the car remotely then, as I had no luggage with me, zipped through the airport, called up the Tesla driver to bring my car to  me (great service!) and, as I picked up a coffee and croissant at Costa, was able to see on my iPhone that the car was just approaching the meeting point. It's great when technology works.

Improved Autopilot sensors

It was a real treat to be back in my car: whilst I had been away the autopilot software had been updated and this was my first chance to test it out. The dashboard display is improved and you can now better see the vehicles around you. I allowed the car to drive me all the way from the M23 to my M25 junction and it did a great job, with a noticeable improvement in the smoothness of the drive. And, as a bonus, when I approached the house the car opened the garage door automatically without being asked to - great!: I wasn't sure whether or not that feature would work.  The one that is not yet sanctioned for use in the UK (though it is in the US) is the Summon function, whereby the car can be called to come to you from where it is parked..not yet anyway!

The house was very cold when I arrived and it took all day for the heating to warm it up...brr....  I spent a couple of hours wrapped in a quilt watching some of the Test coverage before heading off to Burhill for a meeting with the Vice Captain: he can obviously see D-Day approaching as he arrived with a long list of questions. We spent a useful 3 hours or so together and I think that we are in good shape going forwards.

Day 337 - Quilts To Go

Today is my last day in Florida: I head back to the UK tonight. It's been another coldish start to the morning but the forecast for the day is positive with temperatures definitely a few degrees higher than of late - which is great for our visitors who have a game of golf planned.  They will be playing with a couple of fellow Lady members from Burhill, Christine and Sue, both of who also have homes in the Sunshine State.  They are going to be playing at Laurel Oaks which looks very nice - we haven't yet had the chance to play it, but all the reports are very positive!

Kathryn cannot be a member of the party as she has kindly volunteered to be my chauffeur (chauffeuse?) to Tampa airport this afternoon.  Before we leave though we have a couple of things to do: reserve a car for her trip to LA next week (done), book some tickets in the BA Sale to allow us to return to Florida for a month in the autumn (done) and, lastly, to make enquiries about some carpentry work we should like o have carried out.

For the latter, our first choice was to return to the company who had done such a fine job on our kitchen just over a year ago.  There has though, it now transpires, been a change in ownership so we decided to go down to have a look see.  Unfortunately, when we got there the shop was closed as someone had to "run an errand". 

Quilters at work

Not wanting to go straight home again, we wandered around a couple of the other local shops, including a quilting establishment.  This part of Sarasota is where many Mennonites have settled and they are very much in evidence, both in person on their bicycles but also by the shop names (e.g. the Dutch House Furniture or Der Dutchman, a strangely named restaurant).  The quilt shop was no exception and we saw a number of ladies, all in Amish-style dress, working away at some very large and complex looking quilts - all retailing for well over $1,000 so not cheap.

Home for a cup of tea and then a mildly painful drive up to Tampa (the usual traffic bottlenecks were alive and well...). Fortunately, the plane is on time so I hope that I shall be able to get some sleep tonight....

Day 336 - Kerching!

It's Wednesday here in Sarasota and I leave for the UK tomorrow after this 2 week break. Beacsuse it's Wednesday, it's Bondur Golf Day... that means that I am playing in the large group that meet up around lunchtime, play 18 holes and then congregate in the bar afterwards to catch up, hear the scores and generally engage in banter...

A different format again: today the players have been split up into two pools, roughly the 18+ and 18- handicappers. I was put together with Kurt, whose wife comes from Norwich, Dave, whose wife doesn't, and his visitor Adam.  On the first tee ,we all belted the ball down the fairway and nobody even considered the mulligan that custom and practice here allows: this is looking good, I thought...

The game we were playing had four different ways of winning: there were Closest to the Pin flags on all the par 3s and par 5s, there were skins available on every hole, there was a team game where each 4-ball had to count 3 scores on every hole (one gross and two net of strokes allowed) and, in addition, there was a putting competition based on the team's total putts on, again, the par 3s and par 5s...phew!  And I had to keep score.....

After my visit to GolfTec the day before,  I was keen to try out my new swing thoughts - and to start off, it went really well.  I managed the first 9 holes in a level par 36 which was pretty good for me. Unfortunately, I tired towards the end of the round and couldn't maintain this level of golf, recording an 81 in the end.  Nevertheless, our team ended up 2nd in the team competition, we won the putting contest, I captured 2 CtoP flags and one skin: total $23 - kerching!

Back home for dinner and the chance to hear all about the ladies' shopping exploits for the day... though I did have to promise not to say anything more about that on my blog.... though the word "kerching!" also featured....

Day 335 - GolfTec

When we first purchased a house in Sarasota, I brought with me from the UK an old set of clubs that I had purchased to try out some steel shafts.  They weren't very good to start with and ten years later they haven't improved. So, given that I am playing more golf out here, I decided that it was time to invest in some new sticks...

I wandered around the nearest golf superstore called Golfsmith and tried out a couple in one of the bays but really hadn't a clue which make, loft or lie to choose.  For this reason I had decided to spend some money having a proper fitting and had made a booking at the local GolfTec who offer both regular lessons as well as club fitting services.  I turned up at 10:30 with my (elderly) clubs ready for the fray.

After having my arm length, hand size etc etc all measured, I was asked to hit a few balls with a special club that measured club speed. No great surprise that this came out on the lower end of standard - in fact, everything was bang in the middle of the various ranges.  At this point, I was wondering why I had paid good money to get told that all I needed to do was buy something off the shelf...

And then we started hitting a few balls and it turned out that every time my club hit the ground, I was making contact with the toe end. I asked the guy who was helping me why that was and he showed me.... He played me back in slow motion a video of my swing and I was shocked... It was very clear that the take-away I was using was far too much in front of my body and that I was coming back at the ball in far too upright a position (hence the toe contact).  Once he put a picture of someone (in this case Steve Elkington) who knew what they were doing on the other side of the split screen, the difference was palpable. 

Maybe I should be having lessons rather than buying new clubs?

Anyway, I continued by trying out various makes: Ping, Callaway and Mizuno before going back to the first ones that he had selected: a set of TaylorMade PSi irons, with a lie of 2°.... these will be ready for me on my return here in mid February and we shall see if they make a difference or not....

Day 334 - Blue Monday

Another Blue Monday survived..
This one's for my Dutch friends!

Today is apparently "Blue Monday"... Reading the Telegraph online this morning, I see a long list of things that I should be doing.  None of them include going out to play golf with a bunch of friends in Florida.. but that is what I did anyway.

As things turned out, perhaps I should have chosen one of the other options, like stay in bed all day, as just as I had played well on Saturday and Sunday, together I couldn't do anything right.  Best to draw a veil over the whole game: our team came last, I won no skins and hit none of the par three greens either, so no Closest to the Pin Flags either...  The Golf God giveth and taketh away...  But this is one of the reasons why we keep on coming back for more, I guess.

Reminds me of the definition of the difference between a good golfer and a bad golfer: at the end of the round, the bad golfer remembers all his good shots and the good golfer all his bad ones.  I hit a great 3 wood on Hole 8 today.... and then 4 putted.... 'nuff said!

Dinner was late today as we have some visitors coming into town: Mary, Ann and Chris from Burhill are coming here for a week's golf with Kathryn. They will be glad to escape the cold in the UK, though it is January weather here too in Florida and we are about to enter the chillest week since we have been here: blame all those northerners for sending their cold air down south!  The ladies had a good trip and arrived on time at 8 pm driving one of the biggest SUVs that I have ever seen....

Day 333 - Windy City

We were woken up in the middle of the nightly the storm outside: driving rain and howling winds. We'd isn't think too much about it until the following morning when we started reading some of the articles in the local press. Apparently we had a couple of tornadoes go through Sarasota, flattening a number of buildings and leading to two fatalities. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss: many of our neighbours received advisory text messages in the middle of the night suggesting that they take shelter in the bathroom. Not sure how many did though...

All if this, coupled with the fact that we had another rainstorm blow through just before 09:00 meant that out planned golf game with friends Brad and Jessica got blown away...literally. Instead, I contented myself with watching Man U vs Liverpool on the box here in the morning.

At lunchtime, we headed to the Club for lunch with the aforementioned Brad and Jess - a delicious Reuben sandwich, since you ask!  After that, with the sun out, though the wind still blowing, we opted for a gentle 9 holes. Actually a nice way to spend the afternoon as the course was quiet. 

Next on the agenda was a trip to see the movie "Spotlight" which is one if the Oscar Best Picture contenders. This is the story of the Boston Globe's investigation into abuse in the Cathilic Church. Parallels were immediately apparent with All The Presidents' Men though this story was definitely lower key and focussed more on the procedural nature of the investigation - and was probably truer to life as a result. A good film and one which kept the audience rapt. 

Day 332 - 83 all out

Saturday here is pretty much like any other day, though the traffic patterns are different, the restaurants are a bit busier and the golf courses are too.  I woke up early this morning and thought I'd check the cricket score. Hmm England all out with a slender lead and lunch was being taken with South Africa having scored a few runs for no wicket.  Rolled over and dozed some more... looked again: 3 wickets down... no 4, I mean 5...

That was it: TV on and the rest of the morning was spent enjoying the splendid performance of the England team. Who said Test cricket was boring; I found it enthralling and was bemused by how momentum can swing back and forwards in a series like this.

Once the final runs had been scored, we decided to go out floor shopping... There is an area of the house here that needs redoing: either by replacing the carpet or else possibly putting down a wood floor.  Like all such project, it risks getting bigger the more you think about it: maybe we should also take the opportunity to remove some of the moulded bookshelves...  We got a good look at what was out there and as ever, came to the conclusion that you pretty much can spend as much or as little as you want!

We had a vert pleasant lunch out, downtown in Sarasota: we had considered crossing the bridge to the beaches but the traffic looked rather daunting, so parking was bound to be a problem.

Back home for the afternoon and, on the spur of the moment, given that the sun was shining and the temperatures were up in the 80s (sorry...), we opted for a casual 9 holes together. Kathryn played some of the best golf I have ever seen here play and I managed to get off the tee reasonably well, so we both returned home happy with our efforts.  It was probably a good idea to have played today as the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow looks dire....

Day 331 - Sock Drawers

When we woke up this morning, we could hear the pitter patter of gentle raindrops outside the bedroom window. Hmm may be a problem for the golf later on.. 

And then, by the time that the coffee had brewed and the toast toasted, the real rain had arrived. It absolutely chucked it down! It looked to be raining so hard that the pool was in danger of over-filling. This went on for an hour or so before it started to improve. 

At this point the emails started flying and all these fair-weather golfers out here opted instead to sort through their sock drawers... We had been due to tee off at 11:45 and, of course, by then the sun was out....

Fortunately, three of us were getting itchy clubs by the early afternoon and met up for a game at 2 pm. John just wanted to practise but Henry took up my challenge of a match play game. Feeling (over)confident, I suggested that we play off scratch (ignoring the 4 shot delta in our handicaps). 

Big mistake. He played very, very solid par golf over the first nine after which I found myself 4 holes down...  By now, the sun was truly out and the course had drained wonderfully meaning that everything was set for a great afternoon.

Unfortunately, everybody else had the same idea and all those sock-drawer sorters had come out to play: all three courses were packed!  Given that we had charged around our first half in just under an hour and a half, this was not good news. In fact, things ground to such a halt that I had to pack in after 12 holes to get home in time for our evening's plans. I did have to concede the match though and now owe Henry a drink next time we meet up. 

In the evening, we went around to friends Ralph and Michelle for supper and a casual game of bridge afterwards. After the Armageddon-like weather of the morning, it says something about the climate here that we spent the whole evening outside...

Day 330 - Chip Butties...

It's a Thursday here. Kathryn had a very early start, being in the first tee at 0800 when it was barely light... This meant that I had a morning to catch up on various things.

First on the list was some preparation for the Burhill Golf Club's Annual Review of handicaps. Not yet finished, but a good start made. Then it was time to draft up this week's Friday Email. For some reason, this took me longer than usual but got there in the end. 

All of which meant that I ran out of time to get a few other things done. I did though spend an hour reviewing a complex Ofwat case that I am involved in. I did not get to the end there...

A trip to the local Home Depot store was next on the agenda. I had been meaning for some time to purchase some Philips Hue lights for the house here. These are internet connected light bulbs that you can program from your phone. Great for turning them on when you are out or indeed even out if the country. I have already decided to buy some for the UK and can see I am going to have some fun!

In the late afternoon, we went to our local cinema to see the recent film about Steve Jobs, starring Michael Fassbender. A small insight only into the man's life but well played by both him and Kate Winslett as his Work Wife and a sparkling script from Aaron Sorkin. Not bad at $2/head either!

On the way out, I had a look into the local "British Pub", called the White Horse. The board outside was advertising the best Root Beer in Florida, which was not a good start. Heading the menu though was a Chip Butty at $5.95. Not sure what the locals will make of that particular highlight of British cuisine...  Instead, I went home and used up some of the previous day's brisket in a meaty and delicious ragu: yum!

Day 329 - The Eagle Has Landed

A busy day for the Lawrences States-side: Kathryn had a meeting of the Board of the University Women's Club, where she is responsible for the monthly newsletter, in the morning and then had her first meeting of the Richmond Park (i.e. the community in which we live) Book Club. The book they discussed was Fates and Furies, which has some pretty good reviews but I am not sue that it is my cup of tea...  And Martin had his usual Wednesday golf game which pretty much takes care of the whole day...

The weather here has taken a turn for the worse: it was definitely chillier last night and this carried over to this morning.  No shorts and short sleeves this morning... but rather long trousers and a fleece top, at least until the sun came out later in the day.

I was again put out in the first group: good because we can set our own pace, less so as a result of the fact that it meant we were again first in the bar afterwards and had to wait an age and a day until the rest of the gang came in.

The format we played today was a more difficult one: in groups of four, we were to record the three best nett scores on the Par 4s and 5s, whilst on the Par 3s it was the best two gross and one nett scores.  Our team played pretty well to start with but then we had a couple of disaster hole.

We had a pretty good finish though which helped, as did our performance on the Par 5 Hole 14 where your truly managed a gross eagle (poor drive, excellent 5W and a 9i from 118 yards into the hole...).  A thing of beauty.

All of which meant that I ended up on the right side of line money-wise today: our team came 4th and I managed 2 skins and 2 closest to the pins all added up to $28... I'm rich!

Day 328 - British Golf

I had been invited by a friend here, Brad, to join him for a four-ball at around lunchtime.  He had a couple of other guys lined up, Bob and Don, and we met up on the practice ground before proceeding to the first tee.  The request was made: could we play a "British" game?  I explained how golf was played at Burhill, but I am not sure the concept of meeting up in the morning for the Roll-up translated terribly well: the general reaction seemed to be that if you met up at 8 o'clock in the bar, why wouldn't you still be there at midday?

No such problems here: the bar is certainly not open at that time of the morning!  We did though agree that we would play a 4BBB game, with bits on the side.  We replaced the £1-£1-£2 with $3-$3-$6 and settled on 50c per bit.  Balls were thrown in the air (another unheard of custom here!) and I was paired up with Don, against Brad and Bob.  It was at this point that my new partner shared that he had hardly played a game in many months...

I managed a decent birdie on the first to get us one ahead and was, briefly, worried that I might find myself in that embarrassing position of having proposed a game and then winning easily (never a nice place to be). I needn't have worried though... After a few very scrappy holes (including an incident where one of our opposition picked up and pocketed not one but two balls that were not his...) things tightened up and we ended up the first half all square.  We again got ourselves into an early lead on the back nine but this soon evaporated and two excellent pars by Brad meant that we moved to the 17th tee dormie two down.

This was going to be tough as I was giving shots all around on both holes. A regulation par on the difficult 17th won a hole back and then my all my partner had to do was two-putt from 12 ft on the last to win the hole, half the back nine and the match....

Ah well, maybe next time?

Day 327 - "I am just going outside and may be some time."

Monday morning and lots of stories about cold and snow back home in the UK. Burhill courses also struggling with the weather meaning that access is restricted: all good reasons to validate our decision to spend a few weeks here in Florida at this time of year!

That being said, it was chilly here last night too and, shock, horror, I opted to put long trousers on when leaving the house for my Monday morning round - and I wore a sweater too.  The sun was shining though and it was only the cold northerly wind that was the problem. That being said, my playing partners were dressed as if they were anticipating a round with Captains Scott and Oates: polo necks, beanies and fleeces in abundance: blood must thin as you stay out here for longer...

We had a fun game today; I was partnered with three great guys (David, John and Doug) and we not only had a great conversation on the way around (Donald Trump...) but we also played some decent golf. We were playing in teams of 4 with 3 scores to count on each hole so that there was room for one to have a disaster but no more... which is pretty much what we delivered.  My round was up and down:four double bogeys killed my total score but the rest was pretty good. There were 4 par-3 closest to the pin prizes, of which I picked up 2, which when combined with the fact that our team also won AND I managed a skin with a birdie meant that I walked away with $20 in my pocket - that will finance the next two days' golf!

After golf, we made our first pilgrimage to the local CostCo store. Amusingly, the place looks exactly the same as its equivalent in Sunbury - even down to the layout and many of the products on offer (though the prices are cheaper here!). A great opportunity to stock up on reasonably priced essentials and we now have enough toilet paper, silver foil and tinned tomatoes to last until the next millennium....

Day 326 - O Canada!

We had enrolled today to play in the Club's "Couple Club Championships", which is a great way to meet people. The format, we had been advised, was a "Modified Chapman"... ???

So after lunch, we got in our golf cart and drove across to the Clubhouse. In the parking area here, they have an area designated for shotgun starts: every space is marked with a hole number and the people who are due to start there, back their carts into the double slot until everyone can see at a glance if all have turned up. Once it is time, you then head off in order to your designated starting hole and the competition gets going.

Before leaving we discovered exactly what a Modified Chapman competition is: play was open to (married/cohabiting) couples only and both of them was then to tee off on every hole, after which each partner would then take their second shot with the other's ball.  At that point, the team were to choose one ball and it would then be hit into the hole in alternating shot format: a kind of 2-shot Greensomes competition.

Clearly this is an easier format than either Foursomes or Greensomes and the scores certainly reflected that with the winners recording a nett 58 (or 14 better than their allocated handicap).  We were nowhere near there, with a nett 70 with which we were briefly not disappointed: until we got back to the Clubhouse and saw the scores that is! Our partners for the day were Len and Rita, from Toronto, for whom this was still their first week of membership - making us seem like old lags!

The winners of the gross competition managed a very creditable 81. In fact there were two such couples and it took a 2-hole playoff to generate a winner - and we were delighted for our next door neighbours, Betty and John, who were the ones who emerged victorious.  And they're from Canada too...

After the golf, we had a very pleasant meal, cooked by Chef Andy (who is from Essex originally!) who will be moving to a new role at the end of the month and who will be sorely missed.  Now where have I heard that before...?

Day 325 - The Big Short

When we had played bridge the other day, we had had recommended to us a recently opened Farmers' Market store run by the Amish, just down the road from here. So, we went to have a look. 

And we have a new Go To destination: lots of fresh vegetables at very reasonable prices and what looks like a good selection of meat and fresh meat too. Sorry, Publix - you have just lost some business...

We had planned to play 9 holes after lunch but once we got onto the course and found ourselves fixed up with a very chatty couple from Toronto, and playing in glorious sunshine, we decided to play through hole 13. This gave us an easy cut-through to drive the cart home and our decision turned out to be an excellent one; by the time we were home having a cup of tea, the heavens had opened..

And it was still raining hard by the time we got to the cinema too. We were there to see the new film "The Big Short", due out into the UK later in the month. Very entertaining it was too. A very dry subject (the mortgage market collapse in the US in 2007) was made quirkily interesting. Particularly for anyone who enjoyed Enron the Musical, this is a must see!

Day 324 - Crocs Away

Awoke to rain dripping early this morning: not good as was supposed to be playing golf at 11 o'clock.... Needn't have worried though, by mid morning there were hints of blue sky up there and the only downside was that the course was deemed "Cart Path Only".  This is always a bit of a pain as it slows things down and always penalises the errant shot, right or left, that ends up right the other side of the hole from the path itself. Cart Path Golf, i.e. aiming to end up on the correct side of the fairway is an extra challenge...

I was put into the final group today, playing alongside two regulars and Tony whom I had not met before.  Everyone started off a bit scrappily, though the first half wasn't bad. I managed a knock-in birdie on the narrow 4th (nobody saw my approach shot as they were all in their carts: I waited for the plaudits that never came!). I did though follow it up by putting a ball into the water on the following hole... 

By now the sun had come out and the temperature on the cart was showing 81degF - not bad for early January!  the sun however wasn't the only thing that had come out.... the course marshal dropped by to warn us that a group of ladies in front had been concerned at a rather-too-close alligator by the edge of the 9th green. When we got there, he was indeed quite proximate but looking anything but active as he soaked in the warm sun's rays.  We too gave him a wide berth as he looked over 10 ft long....

After that the golf petered out into bogie-land. Despite my 40 on the outward half, I hit bunker after bunker and/or still couldn't get the hang of the fast greens, 3-putting far too often. At this rate, I shall have them mastered just in time to return to winter golf in the UK in ten days time...

Day 323 - Hot stuff

Thursday is Kathryn's golfing day here, so she was out bright and early... though it was actually anything but bright this morning: as the sun came up (around 07:20 here at this time of the year) we were greeted by dense fog - so much so that we even wondered whether or not the course would be open.  It was.  So she was able to get off on time and I had the morning to myself.

I had a long list of minor errands to carry out: returning s faulty wireless doorbell, buying a photo frame and booking myself in for a club-fitting session... the joys of retirement!

After lunch, I met Kathryn at the Clubhouse for our bi-weekly dose of couples bridge. As we get to know better some of the people playing this has become quite a fun event. Because we are only occasional players, we always get put East/West, which means that we have to do the walking between the tables - but no complaints as this means that we get to play against some friendly pairs.

We started off reasonably disastrously, and also seemed to have none of the cards. Nevertheless, things picked up as we got our brains into gear and I was quietly confidently that we had scored OK (as it turned put, we had only managed a 60% game but this was enough to put us in first place - winning us the princely sum of $8 for our efforts!).

On previous occasions, we had either not been available or not keen to stay on for a meal after the cards was finished. This time though we decided to give it a go - partly because we need to start making a dent on our annual levy spend at the Club here ($900 is our target....).  We ended up having a very pleasant meal in the restaurant - Kathryn was delighted with her salmon dish and I enjoyed my chipotle pasta - even though I wasn't quote sure what I had ordered... I had to look it up when I got home and now know that a chipotle is a smoke-dried jalapeño pepper...

Day 322 - T&T

It's the 6th of January and today is the occasion of my first golf game of the year...what a slacker!

I joined up with my usual gang here in Sarasota for the Wednesday game. As always, this is the largest group of the week and today was no different.

There were 26 people playing, which meant two 3-balls and 5 4-balls.  On this occasion, I was put into the group who went out first, along with Ray and Les.  One of our jobs was to place the Nearest the Pin flags on the 10 (yes, 10: all the par 3s, par 5s and one par4 on each nine) holes that had been selected by John, the organiser.  This we did pretty well.... only having to drive back to a hole that we had forgotten on just one occasion!

The game we were playing today was for teams of four, with three scores counting on each hole (one of which was to be a gross score, the other two net of handicap allowance - not an easy format!).  Since we were a man short, we had to choose one of the other players' scores to be used as a proxy for our missing team member.

Ginless G&T - not to be recommended!

Being only a three ball with a clear open course in front of us, we played very efficiently (only once spending a moment looking for a lost ball) and finished our round in 3 hours flat - a rarity here!  The final group, who had started 45 mins behind us, did not finish till 2 hours later which meant there was a lot of hanging around (and there are only so many gin-free G&Ts that you can drink!).  Eventually our proxy player came in: unfortunately he had not had a stellar round so he was not able to rescue our team score which meant that we came in 5th out of 7... and won a princely sum of $2/man for our efforts!

My own round was indifferent: pretty good off the tee but scrappy with my short irons and useless on the greens. They were much quicker than I had been used to of late at Burhill ...at least that's my excuse!

Day 321 - #firstworldproblems

It is never easy for the first few days on vacation with a 5 hour time difference to cope with. Not a problem for me today, but Mrs L had a tee time at 08:45 so had to keep moving in the morning. That being said, it's a great way of managing the jet-lag, so am a bit jealous but, just as at Burhill, Tuesday is Ladies Day here at UPCC as well...

I promise that this will be one of the few references to the Florida weather as I am very conscious that it is rather better here than at home... Florida, like the UK, had enjoyed a very warm December with temperatures regularly up in the 80s, which is most unusual at this time of year.  Again, similar to the other side of The Pond, more normal service has been returned and so the daily max today will be in the low 70s (everyone talks Farenheit here...) though when the skies are clear, the nights will be noticeably chillier.

One of the "joys" of returning to a vacation home is checking that everything is working properly. This was not the case today: despite our best efforts we couldn't get the golf cart to charge properly, the front doorbell is on the blink and the garage door opener for the small side door (yes, it's for the golf cart...) will not work either, even after I have put a new battery in.  As my son would say "Hashtag, firstworldproblems"!

What is working properly however is the WiFi Security Application which allows me to watch UK TV on my laptop, mirrored across to the big screen with Apple TV.  This means that I can keep up to date with the sport and we can also watch UK catch up TV.  Deutschland 83 hier kommen wir...

Day 320 - A 29 Hour Day

After all the wet weather of late and with the prospect of some colder days on the way (good to see some snow has finally fallen in the Alps!) which may discourage some of the idiot plants in the garden (including the climbing rose which is now in bud...), it is with a quite sense of optimism that we headed to Gatwick this morning...

Could be worse: could be battling out the first Monday Stableford of the year (how exactly did Jon manage 44 points???)!

Orange Juice only: Day 4 of Dry January!

All traffic behaved, the service from the Tesla team at Gatwick was at its impeccable best and the airport was relatively empty: all of this meant that we arrived at the BA Lounge in plenty of time.  A slightly subdued atmosphere pervaded the place as it turned out that the facilities were to be closed the following day, as the company starts the process of moving from the North to the South terminal.  The staff all seemed very positive about the change but I worried that for some they might be out of a job shortly...

The flight left about an hour late as a couple of passengers "got lost in the terminal" (!) and their luggage had to be removed.  Given that we had 9+ hrs ahead, this was unwelcome news and the very northerly routing that the captain had been given meant that we were unable to make up for lost time.  Then our luggage (K's golf clubs!) was almost last off....

And we had decided to try out an alternative way home, making use of the SuperShuttle service.  Normally, we just pickup a one-way rental car but that is a bit of a hassle too so we thought we'd try something different.  Unfortunately, the shuttle had three drop-offs before ours so it wasn't until 21:00 local time (02:00 UK time) that we walked though the front door here in Sarasota.

But we arrived safely and everything in the house looks very welcoming...

Day 319 - Star Struck bis

Woke up bright and early with every intention of going to the Club for the early morning roll up...until I opened the curtains, checked the weather forecast on and put the TV on...  There was a 95+% chance of heavy rain, it looked dark and gloomy and England were due to resume their first innings in the Second Test.

What a wise decision: the heavens duly opened and we had non stop rain all day AND I got to see one of the best session's Test cricket ever. The brutality of Stokes's batting was very impressive and it was also fun to hear all the records tumbling throughout the day.  I am very jealous at the thought that friends Richard and Gavin will actually have been at Newlands to see what will have been a special day.

I did go into the Club at lunchtime to wish those who were there a Happy New Year. I spent around half an hour in the pro Shop chatting to the guys there to make sure that all is properly set up for January.  After that I went to speak with Tom to make sure that some of the events in January are also in hand: all looks good!

Back home for supper with AJ and Aggie: this really marks the end of the Festive Season. They go back to work a full week tomorrow, Kathryn has cleared up all the decorations and taken the tree off to the recycling. As ever, the house feels a bit bare without all the Christmas paraphernalia....

Day 318 - Star Struck

Cold and wet and grey and miserable...here at least: the complete opposite on the TV at 08:00 this morn ing as I got up early to watch the first day of the Test from Newlands in Cape Town, South Africa. With clear blue skies and a fantastic backdrop, this must be one of the most attractive cricket grounds in the world.  And England won the toss. And they had a good day with the bat too. Excellent.

Very good too was our lunch spot for the day: together with my son and his girlfriend, we drove over to Sunninghill to meet up with my aunt and uncle.  I had consulted the oracle that is Tripadvisor and identified the local pub there as a destination. Called "La Cloche" at the Carpenters Arms, it  is a French owned typical English pub and served a menu that would not be out of place on the other side of the Channel.  And très bien it was too!

Back home to watch the last few overs of the cricket and some delicious butternut soup for an early supper before paying our first visit to the newly-renovated Everyman cinema in Esher.  This used to be a rather tired Odeon and has only just reopened in its new colours. I was very impressed: a very different foyer (basically, a classy bar) and some very friendly staff.

We were there (finally) to see the new Star Wars: the Force Awakens.  We had all been carefully avoiding all reviews etc but were aware that these had been positive so had high expectations. 

Always dangerous, but no on this occasion: the plot line was perhaps familiar (just how many Death Stars can a bunch of rebels destroy?) but at the same time there were lots of amusing linkages to the previous films.

It was fun to be reacquainted with the likes of Han Solo, C3PO, R2D2 - and of course the fantastic music of John Williams.  The special effects didn't disappoint either - and now just another 2 years to wait until the next episode....

Day 317 - 1-1-16

As was the case across much of the world, a lazy start to the day... up late and then some serious TV watching was on the agenda: in my case, the New Year's Concert from Vienna (memories of childhood and drinks with the neighbours in Antwerp come flooding back!), followed by The Sound of Music, which is amazingly more than 50 years old....

And so is my brother today: Happy Birthday, Roger! - all four of us are now in our sixth decade... :-(

I received this morning my twice-weekly email from the Florida State Golf Association. It contained some recommended New Year's golfing resolutions, which I share below. They seem to make a lot of sense to me... even if some of them are a bit US-centric (e.g. No. 8)

1. Resist the urge to buy a golf gadget that promises to get you an extra 10 yards on your drive.
2. Get a short game lesson from your local PGA Professional. This will actually help your game.
3. Play a course in your area you have never played before.
4. Try NOT Anchoring your putter (Might be a good idea since you are no longer permitted to do so)
5. Play Faster!  You need not line up a 30 footer when putting for an 8.
6. Volunteer at a local junior golf tournament.  Nothing beats seeing a little one learning the game.
7. Learn a few new stretches to ensure your body is ready for play.  (Like Miguel Angel Jimenez).
8. Walk 9 in the evening.
9. Tell a clean golf joke on the first tee.  Yes, this one might be tough.
10. Actually enjoy a round!

In the evening, we were invited round to my son's house for dinner. Not sure where he had stashed his housemates, but the family had a free run and he served up a delicious Pakistani curry (inspired by his birthday gift of a monthly spice set from g/f Aggie ).  And then, to top it all we walked around to the local Picture House to watch the Abominable Bride, this year's Sherlock special. All hokum but good fun and a great way to kick the year off!  And we have Star Wars to look forward to tomorrow...

Day 316 - New Year's Eve

An IG day today: I had to write the New Year's Friday Email, which took me a bit longer than I had expected as there were so many links to build into it.  I have written it and pre-programmed it to go out at midnight, so it should be there to welcome all into 2016 - I hope that nobody believes that I shall be on my laptop at that time...

I also had to design the web page for this year's Awards Dinner and send out the email invitation. Unfortunately I managed to get the date wrong on both...aargh....  No harm doen though as an eagle-eyed former Captain spotted it immediately!

We had a quiet day with what was meant to be a gentle stroll into Cobham, which got aborted when we realised that it was actually a bit chilly out there. 

In the evening, we went out for a New Year's Eve dinner with four other Burhill couples, hosted by Andrew and Annette. It was a very pleasant evening with food contributed by all - a real treat too with some delicious dishes on offer.

I also enjoyed the champagne and wines that Andrew had chosen - all the more so as they will be the last that I shall consume until February: yes, it's that time of year again. I have been doing a Dry January for the past 10 years and more - not for any great health-inspired reasons but really to prove to myself (and Kathryn!) that I can actually manage it.  In past years, I have not noticed any great changes in weight or sleep patterns but maybe I shall this time?