Day 355 - ANOTHER Windy Day

I had been intending to play in today's Stableford but the opportunity presented itself to play a round of golf with my son and a colleague of his from EY, Anthony, so I had changed my plans a few days back.  I had also persuaded Colin to join us and so we had a four-ball organised. Anthony had tickets for this afternoon's Spurs game so the request was that we start early. 

A Met Office Weather Warning in force...

When we arrived at the Club this morning, it was noticeable that the car park was much less full than I would have expected on a Saturday - especially given there was a competition on the New Course.  The bar was also relatively quiet: clearly a lot of people had been put off by the appalling weather forecast for the day: this had talked of substantial rainfall and very strong winds.

As things turned out, this was only half right: it didn't rain at all.  But the wind blew. And how!

Colin and I took on the young men - and it turned out it was a day for old men's accuracy over the youth's distance off the tee.  He and I Coxed-and-Boxed very well and put together a pretty decent better-ball card given the dreadful weather and the winter playing conditions.  They never stood a chance....

There was then time for a catch-up with Matthew, the Club's GM, and the opportunity to talk through the week ahead: the AGMs to get through and the first time for him to see how things work at Burhill.

Back to the bar to catch up with the 2nd ODI in Port Elizabeth, the end of which I watched when I got home: it was a brutal display of power from Buttler at the end!  And as soon as that was over, I switched over to watch the French squeeze past the Italians in the first round of the Six Nations and after that saw the English bully their way past the Scots at Murrayfield: the important matches are yet to come...

Day 354 - Friday Fun

Another early start this morning as I had been selected for the Rest of the World team, this time playing in the Vets Nations Cup side.  The format of this competition is different from the main Men's game: we played a Greensomes game off the Yellow Tees so it should have been - and was - a bit easier to score well than of late.

My partner-in-crime today was Wayne, a very useful 18 handicapper, originally from South Africa. This was great as I was able to tap him up a bit for some ideas in preparation for our November trip out there.  And our opponents, playing for the Irish, were their Captain Mark and Geoff.

And what an exciting game we had: Geoff holed a great putt on 9, our first hole, and then Mark holed a long one on 11 and it just went on like that: we had birdies on 14 and 6 (great approach and then an outrageous putt respectively), whilst our opponents had back-to-back net eagles and then a birdie on holes 3 and 4.... tough stuff....

In the end, as is so often the way, despite all of this, it was the simple bread-and-butter putts that cost us: we overhit 17, missed a 4-footer on 7 and then failed to sink something a bit less than that on our final hole to halve the match... ouch!

A companionable sandwich and a beer for lunch followed after which it was time to think about the evening meal: I wandered around Waitrose and decided on lamb shanks with a celeriac mash: perfect winter food!

Disco time?

While that was cooking, I decided to have some fun with my new Philips Hue lights: I downloaded an App (Ambify) which changes the colours of the bulbs in time with any music you play off your iPhone: daft but fun and good value for £2.99 - especially when Kathryn's away....

Some very entertaining golf at the Waste management Open in Phoenix closed the evening: gorgeous weather and great skills on show. The par-3 16th hole, with raucous crowds cheering and booing every player is not something you'd want to see every week, but it has its place here!

Day 353 - The End in Sight

There were 8 of us Disorganised Golfers today, DOGS for short: the perfect number!  We opted for something different this time and went for the 3 best scores out of 4 - a more punitive version than the usual 2 out of 4, but it keeps everyone on their toes.  As things turned out, at the end of the game there were only 2 points difference between the two teams, which means that the competition design worked... and our team just edged it as well, primarily thanks to the VC who was on fine form.

Part of the Burhill members' website

Time for a speedy lunch and a pint, and then said VC and I repaired to the Lounge, along with the incoming Vice Captain, for a few hours of intensive website discussions: this is a great tool for communicating with the membership and it will make the future Captains' lives that bit easier if they can feel comfortable using it.

Home for a swift turnaround: I needed to shower and change and get a draft out for this week's Friday email in not much more than half an hour... and I just about made it...

Back at the Club for dinner this evening with members Gabi and Eugen: it had seemed a great idea when we had made our date but we had each forgotten to check that the kitchen was actually open this evening. It wasn't....  Nevertheless, phone calls were made and food was served: great customer service!

Much of the time over dinner was spent reminiscing over the past year: something which will happen rather more often in the next few days, I suspect....

Day 352 - Socialism?

Today is my birthday and, whilst I have received a few cards in the mail, the bulk of the birthday wishes received have come via a myriad of social media: I spent a lot of the morning thanking people via text message, on WhattsApp, in Facebook posts and direct messages, iMessages, Skype texts and even a host of vaguely random Linked-in mails too.  Am exhausted!  And I haven't yet checked my Twitter account either...

Early in the morning, a large package was delivered to the door. I opened it, not really paying attention to all the "do not use blades" warnings, and had quite a shock when a helium-filled balloon rose to the ceiling.  A lovely surprise from my daughter and her husband-to-be!

Just occasionally, when I am asked how old I am, people expect the response to be the birth year (I am a "60" child..) - well for the next year, I can answer 58 to all such questions...  And, according to an article in today's Times, I am that bit closer getting through the ages when a midlife crisis threatens!

A gentle day today - a couple of business calls, some domestic duties including some of the ironing that has been piling up, but at least there was some England cricket to watch at the same time - and very exciting it was too.

Then, in the evening, I was taken out to dinner by my children and their better halves. They had selected the Harwood Arms in Fulham. The only pub in London with a Michelin star... And excellent it was too. We had a round table which I always love and the food was great. A fantastic way to celebrate my day!

Day 351 - A Lucky Man

When we set out from the Clubhouse this morning for our game, the wind was blowing, the skies threatening and we felt as we were in for a classic round of winter golf.... And yet, somehow, first we saw some blue skies and then for a considerable while we were also treated to the sun as well.  A welcome surprise in early February.

Today there were five of us, disorganised as ever, who took part in our Stableford competition. On this occasion, my three-ball were victorious, thanks in great part to partner Alan, who played very well in what were not easy conditions.  For this, we walked away with the princely sum of £2 a man...

Back home for the afternoon, I discovered an American TV series that I had never heard of before: it is one of the many hours of "free" viewing to which we are entitled as Amazon Prime members. It was entitled "Mozart in the Jungle" and is a comedic take on life in the New York Symphony Orchestra

And very entertaining it was too: some good music interspersed with a blend of humour worked well for me. Fun seeing Malcolm McDowell on the screen again: very much a star in my youth in such things as O Lucky Man! (one of my all time favourites and A Clockwork Orange (which also contained some classical music references...), he then disappeared for years only to reappear recently in the Heroes TV series.

As I write this I have Alan Price's excellent soundtrack from O Lucky Man blasting through the house...just as well Kathryn's not here!

Day 350 - Wet February

When I was out with my children the other day, one of their friends said that she was "doing a Damp January" - a more flexible form of the Dry January that I completed yesterday. Nice idea.

I have lost count of the number of years that I have been subjecting myself to an alcohol-free start of the year, but it is certainly more than 10.  And it seems to get slightly easier every time so maybe that's a good thing. Anyway, I toasted in the new month yesterday evening with my first beer of the year in a bar at Düsseldorf airport.

The reason I have decided to do without in January(ies) is purely a personal one: to show myself, and Kathryn, that I can do it. I must say that I have never felt that I sleep any better nor lose any weight (in fact there are times when I find myself snacking when I would otherwise have had a drink in my hand).  And yes, I know that a 5-2 regime would be medically better for me...maybe I shall try that as well this year.

Today is the occasion of the Iowa Caucuses in the US, the first time we actually get to hear from some real voters in what is always a very long process to select candidates to get their parties' support for their candidature in the November Presidential elections. 

Every four years, when this cycle restarts, it brings back memories of the 1972 edition thereof. I was about 14 and at boarding school and can remember listening to the radio late into the night: there wasn't much choice of channels in those days and I often found myself switching over to Radio 4's coverage of what was going on in the US.

These were pre-Watergate times and Tricky Dicky as he came to be known had a relatively easy time of it.  Two years later and I was still listening, enthralled as the whole edifice collapsed. Alistair Cooke's version of it was - indeed still is - fascinating: well worth a re-listen.

No idea what will transpire in 2016: my personal bet is on the first Lady President, but there's still a long way to go. Watch out for Mr Rubio...

P.S. Just writing this prompted me to listen to the 25th Anniversary Letter from America reviewing Watergate a quarter of a century later - worth a go at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00yj9j0

Day 349 - Nations Cup

One of the very best competitions that we have at Burhill is the Nations Cup.  This is a team game, based loosely on the Rugby Union Six Nations championship.  There are teams representing the four Home Nations as well one for Europe and the last tagged as Rest of the World, all of whom play against each other in match-play format at times loosely in line with the rugby dates. 

What this means is that for five weekend days through the early months of the year, there is an 08:30 shotgun start on one of the courses at the Club, with tees 1-6, 7-12 and 13-18 each hosting an inter-country match. We used to have six two-man teams (the format is foursomes) but recently double-manned one of the tees to allow 14 people to play for each team every weekend.  This has worked pretty well and the atmosphere in the bar beforehand (anticipation...) and afterwards (explanation and excuses) is always great.

Today was the occasion of the second round, the first one having played a couple of weeks ago, and everything is very tight with no clear leader having emerged yet.  I have been looking forward to competing as there are only two dates that I cam make this year and this is one of them. I have always played for the Rest of the World team (by marriage?) and we have had some success in the recent year.

Unfortunately, I have picked up an awful winter cold/sore throat and really didn't feel up to playing this morning. Our team Captain, John, did have a reserve up his sleeve and my absence didn't cause any logistical problems. That being said, we suffered a 2-5 defeat and now find ourselves in the bottom half of the table which is led by Andrew's Welsh team (cue sheep noises....).  But there are still 3 rounds to go, so all is not lost!

In the afternoon, my job was to to do the draw for the Anglo American Trophy: this is the premier handicap singles matchplay event at Burhill and this year we have a record 179 entrants.  To win this requires 8 victories and is a long haul (self promotion alert: I won it in 2007 so can speak from experience).  In days gone by, it used to take the best part of the day to do the draw manually and then to fill out the pairings on paper: today it took Steve and me about 5 minutes to complete online...this must be some kind of progress!