Playing Warrington, oh sorry, The Warrington golf club at the weekend got my blood boiling again much as it did when I played The Wilmslow golf club.It is such a pretentious addition and in most cases unnecessary.
This is the definition of the word:
An everyday story of a man who thinks he is much younger than he is.....as my mate said 'growing old is compulsory, growing up is optional'....read and enjoy
Playing Warrington, oh sorry, The Warrington golf club at the weekend got my blood boiling again much as it did when I played The Wilmslow golf club.It is such a pretentious addition and in most cases unnecessary.
This is the definition of the word:
Before my golf fest started, SWMBO and I made our annual trip to Lords for the first test against New Zealand. It was a while since we had been there, and also a while since we stayed at the Lensbury Club.
First though the cricket. after a leisurely breakfast we set off for Lords. it does take a while from Teddington but we thought 11:30 was a reasonable time to arrive as we passed through the turnstiles. Imagine our shock then as we saw New Zealand were 12-3. Luckily more wickets followed as they were bowled out and England came out to bat.
We took a lunchtime stroll down St Johns Wood High Street,paying. particular attention to the charity shops, before rejoining the game.At this point we became aware of the large amount of alcohol the group in front were consuming and were just waiting for one of the girls in particular to stand up and promptly fall over!!
England only lost one wicket before tea and with Crawley in control we anticipated a final session devoid of drama, allowing us to depart early to our pre-booked dinner appointment. Joe Root came in and knocked a couple of 4's and with the score on 82-2 we made our excuses and left.
Our very pleasant evening at the Duke of Sussex in Waterloo was then shattered as I spotted a headline ' England collapse again' and yes we missed a further 5 wickets at the end of the day.
So back to the Lensbury before home the next day for a 75th birthday party. The Lensbury is now a regular hotel which anybody can book into and like everywhere, they are suffering staff shortages. The clientele is different with the parents less likely to control their children than previously was the case. The hash browns at breakfast were pretty poor as well.
They seem to be fairing marginally better than the Anglers next door as we waited 35 minutes to be served there on the Wednesday night, and for a Fullers pub to not have any London Pride was just bang out of order.
Anyway, we are back on the horse so to speak and with a couple of rugby tickets for the New Zealand game in November, I can see if things have improved.
People said this golf business would get easier once the captaincy was handed over, but that does not seem the case to me. I am into a run of nine games in 9 days at the moment, although I have to say the first three were of my own making.
A traditional match featuring teachers from the UK against an assorted team of French gentlemen has been going on for some time, and I was asked to take the number 12 shirt at the weekend. We played at The Vale of Llangollen on Saturday with the England team winning 2-1, then on to Wallasey where the lead was increased to 4-2 before the final singles matches at Warrington, sorry, The Warrington golf club. There, in a tense battle, the French won the day 3 1/2 - 2 1/2 but overall victory was that of England by one point.
My match was particularly tense and unknowingly, key to victory. I was 4 up with 4 to play but only 1 up on the 18th. My laser straight drive took a wicked bounce into a fairway bunker and my recovery only left me in another, 135 yards from the green. In the meantime my partner was way left but safe in two. I hit a worldie hybrid onto the green which put pressure on my opponent who failed to deliver and after a lagged first putt we shook hands and the cup was secure.
It was a great three days and should see me on the plane to France next year tres bien.