Day 315 - Cinderella and the Beanstalk

Well, there was the offer of a game of golf at 08:00 this morning.... and, when I opened the curtains at 08:15 I was glad that I had declined: storm Fred (or whatever daft name they now give to these things) was blowing hard and it would have been yet another survival round...  It did stay dry and it wasn't cold but 30-40mph winds are not my idea of golfing fun!

Instead, it was a day of domestic admin. Both children were with us in Cobham "working from home" so I was also on lunch catering duties.  I got a fair amount done, but my domestic accounts still not up to date. maybe I just don't want to know what Christmas cost us...

In the evening, we drove up to The Latchmere in Clapham. We had been recommended the pantomime there by friend Marielle from the Golf Club.  We had a more than acceptable dinner downstairs in the pub itself first (pork belly with some of the best green beans I have ever eaten!) before moving upstairs to the theatre at 7 pm.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect: the stage itself was relatively small with perhaps 10 ros of seats seating in total around 100, with plenty of kids in the audience which was great.  The show itself was a three-man effort, plus musician, and was indeed great fun. T

The premise was that our three hosts had written a mammoth show starring every pantomime character you have ever heard of but had forgotten to book the actors required so were forced to do the job themselves...

.... which they did with great gusto, displaying a whole range of voices and faces as well as some decent singing voices.  Like any good panto, there was plenty of audience participation which enjoyed, particularly some of the younger members of the public who provided just the form of reaction that the actors will have wanted.  The highlight for me was the three-minute version of Home Alone.... you had to be there!

Day 314 - Another sunny day's golf...

Tuesday is Ladies Day at Burhill so when we got to the Club this morning, we checked what their plans were  and, according to the information we were given, there were fewer than normal playing and they would be playing on the Old Course, teeing off at 0930.  Perfect: we were playing in two groups of three and were good to go at 0900 so we headed for the first tee.

As we approached the second fairway, we spotted the course marshall heading our way purposefully...  Unbeknownst to him (or us), the Ladies event was actually a multi-tee start at 10:00 with groups starting off the 1st, 3rd, 6th and 9th tees.  Oops.... It was now 09:17 and the question was whether or not our two groups could beetle around and be past the 6th hole in time....

That all sounded too much like hard work, so we opted instead ourselves to move off the 2nd green to the 9th tee. A wise decision, as we inconvenienced nobody and never even saw any of the Ladies groups. 

When we got back to the beginning of the course, from the 18th, there were lots of people out playing, so we decided to play the first two holes for a second time and make it a 20-hole match (as you know, the best way to take 4 shots off your round is only to play 17 holes... so we were doing the reverse!).

The Beef - RIP

As things turned out (contrary to their initial assertions!) our three-ball had easily beaten than coming behind us, in part due to the fact that I managed to one-putt five (or was it six?) holes... and this was the same course that I played yesterday?

At home, I was on dinner duty again tonight: for the 5th day in a row we were eating some of the Christmas beef - which continued to be delicious and, given the number of meals we had gotten out of it, perhaps not so expensive after all...

Day 313 - Pitchmark Problems

This blog is turning into a bit of a broken record: another incredibly mild day this morning (this must be the warmest December for a very long time!) meant that an invitation for a round at the Club was most gratefully received!

Roland and I met up at 09:30 but were soon aware that we were not the only ones with the same idea: to quote the course marshal: "it's heaving out there"....  So, after consulting with him, we opted to tee off from the 9th on the Old Course and to see whether or not we wanted to play the remaining 8 once we had completed the 18th.

We were soon down to shirtsleeves: it was really warm in the sunshine!  the course itself though was decidedly wet underfoot and the greens very "bobbly" to putt on (at least that is my excuse....).

Good reminder,
Poor grammar...

I was disappointed to note how many un-repaired pitchmarks there were on virtually every green: it's a real shame that members cannot be bothered to take the few minutes required: it's our own course after all!

We have tried various initiatives in the past to help people remember to fix their pitchmarks: putting signs up, giving everyone their own hole to own and look after but nothing seems to work...

All ideas welcome!

And no, we didn't play the final holes but instead repaired to the bar to watch some of the third day of the First Test versus South Africa.  Then in the afternoon, Mrs L and I went for a walk in the woods around Garson's Farm.  It's a few years since I have been there: I couldn't believe quite how much space they have now given over to retail therapy: I bought a hat...

Day 312 - Traffic

Sol, Poppy & Jos
at the breakfast table

Another lazy start and yet more smoked salmon for breakfast (CostCo doesn't do small portions....).

Today was the day that the family went their separate ways: my daughter drove up to Manchester to see her boyfriend, and ran into bad traffic on the M6. My brother was driving back from Suffolk: a journey which normally takes two hours but instead took over three hours due to congestion on the M11 and the M25.

And I volunteered to drive my sister-in-law and three children down to her sister's in Eversley, Hants.  Having seen all the red lines on the sat nav, we decided to take the A3 and cut across on the A331 and, yes, we hit our very own traffic on the way around Guildford...

But eventually we all got there. And I am pleased to be able to report that the children's car seats fitted beautifully into the Tesla, which served for the first time as a family car.  The boys were suitably impressed but unfortunately neither the Traffic Adjusted Cruise Control nor the Auto Pilot were functioning... something for the Tesla guys to have a look at next week!

Day 311 - Boxing Day Test

Another lazy day: the Durham family still with us, so it still feels as if we are celebrating! A late breakfast is on the agenda: plenty of smoked salmon and cream cheese left from yesterday to start things off.  Then I had made some fruit muffins for everyone as well - this used to be a family tradition: Mum made pancakes on one day at the weekend and I made muffins on the other...but those days are long past...

Today was the first day of the new Test series against South Africa, so of course we had to tune into that, though the rapid disappearance from the crease of Messrs Cook and Hales did put a bit of a pall on proceedings to start with. England did recover somewhat later on though: game on...

Another very mild day meant that we didn't even need any coats on the walk to the pub for a drink before lunch. On this occasion we headed to the Cricketers, but more because of the park and associated play equipment than the beer selection... That being said, the pub is still one of the nicest around and we had a most pleasant drink before heading home for lunch.

What then followed was one of my absolute favourite types of lunches: lots of things to choose from, some hot, some cold, with plates all over the table - it was one of those meals where you can just stay sitting all afternoon, grazing away... which we did....

Day 310 - Christmas Day

Pictures speak better than words: we had great fun!

Stockings in the morning

Breakfast guest

Family photo 2015

Traditional Christmas tree portrait

Lunch... yum...

Day 309 - Yo-yo

Despite a slow start, I was out of the house first thing(ish) to get in one final run to Waitrose to pick up all the last minute things that we need for tomorrow. I needn't have worried - there was plenty of room in the car park and the shop itself was relatively quiet. All very easy really.

Back home for some concerted culinary preparation: Kathryn made an orange cake with plum sauce for tomorrow as well as a sweet potato soup for supper on Christmas Day, whereas my task was to prepare the red cabbage and the parsnips and also cook some mince pies.  For all of these, I turned to my cookery bible at this time of year: Delia Smith's Christmas (amazing value on Amazon!) as every recipe I have ever made from it has been a hit.

Unfortunately, before I could start on the red cabbage, I had to do a return run to the shops as we had run out of apples and onions.  Everything in the village was much more crowded: are people really doing their Christmas present shopping today?

Christmas Table
halfway ready!

By the time everything was done, my daughter arrived home and set about her task for the day: laying the table for the 17 we have for lunch tomorrow. She has been doing this for years and always does a wonderful job!

Mince pie making came around: and could we find the pastry cutters anywhere? No we couldn't, so back to Cobham again for an emergency purchase run (and, yes, there are still people Christmas shopping at 3 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve...).  And would you believe it, I then ran put of mincemeat so had to go back for the fourth time: it is fortunate that we live so close but even so by now I'd had enough!

By now my son was also home and we had a quorum: everybody was feeling very weary though and after a traditional fresh salmon dinner, we could only manage the first half of White Christmas before people started peeling off to bed.... at least they'll all be fast asleep by the time Santa arrives...