Better than a hole in one!!

No posts during May is a bit of a let down, but was due in most part to a holiday trip to Turkey with some of Maxine's mad mate's, one of whom was celebrating her 60th birthday. I took my bats along and managed to get five rounds in including two on the Montgomerie course which will be hosting the Turkish Open later in the year. It was a very well turned out track and I played it pretty well.

I always remember when I was off on vacation from work, little of my backlog got cleared while I was away, so there was a huge work effort when I returned and the holiday quickly became a distant memory.

The same thing happened this time, although the backlog was a series of golf matches which needed to be played in short order, when I got back. The schedule finished yesterday with a rare win in the first round of the Nike match-play. I worked out that I have played nine rounds in 12 days.

The highlight of those rounds has to be a gross 79 which I hit in the Twickenham Legend's v Hero's match at Hersham Village Golf Club. It was the first time I have ever broken 80 and did feel just a bit special. especially as I travelled down and back in the day!!

Other matches saw a second place at Wallasey, a win against Prestbury and a defeat away at the West Lancs course close to where we used to live in Waterloo.

So now I am putting my feet up for a while before I tackle some decorating and other little jobs which are building up.

Interesting the football fixtures have just been released and I can see the mighty Green's at Tranmere this year, as well as at Morecambe and Accrington Stanley. Might even get to Wigan to see Brentford.

The standard of football will be a little bit lower than that on display during the World Cup, but I am sure the quality of refereeing and playacting/cheating will be the same. Such is the price we have to pay for 'the beautiful game'.

That was the week that was

I am writing this as I watch the final holes of the Masters golf unfold at Augusta National. It's a course I would love to play, but have little or no chance of doing so. It is one of a few around the world where you can't just turn up, pay your green fee and play. I don't know any members so have resigned myself to missing out.

The week started interestingly with a dry run of the stag weekend I am attending in Lisbon during July. It was held at Twickenham RFC to co-incide with their winner take all match against Old Priorians. Up until this game T's had only lost three times in two years, all had been to Old P's. Sadly they have now lost four as they went down 20-28 to a very good side, in a proper game of rugby where no quarter was given or taken. Priorians will now be promoted by right, and T's will engage in a play-off against Saffron Waldron. If they win they will move into London 1, the highest level they have ever been in, Hopefully they can turn over Priorians next year.

On the Wednesday I was down in London again for a retirement lunch for my long time work colleague and golf companion Chris Finden-Browne. It is very easy to do London to Liverpool in a day, so I took the advantage to catch up with a few friends I had not seen since I left IBM almost 18 months ago.

Friday saw me having another lunch with IBM colleagues, this time in Manchester, and I sensibly retired hurt about 5pm, as I had a golf competition on Saturday morning and wanted a reasonably clear head. As it happens I was 68th out of about 150, not good, but could have been much worse. The Wallasey wind was blowing and it was a real battle to get round.

During the week, the RFU also issued instructions on how to obtain tickets for the Rugby World Cup matches in October next year. I have no appetite for the kick-off times, or the prices, so will be encouraging the usual subjects to look at alternative entertainment options which will allow us to watch the games on TV but maybe in Ireland or France.

So it's been a pretty full on week, and I am now looking forward to a more restful one coming up.....

The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey

Trips to London are less frequent than they used to be these days, but no less enjoyable. On Friday I had the opportunity to attend a lunch at Lord's cricket ground to celebrate the start of the 150th anniversary season of Middlesex county cricket club.

The room was littered with players from past years, many of whom I grew up watching from the stands as an impressionable schoolboy, and more recent players who are trying to emulate those true legends.

The afternoon was compere'd by Bob 'the cat' Bevan, an after dinner speaker of some note. He was joined on stage by Geoff Miller, a recent England selector, who told tales of Derbyshire cricket in his own inimitable style.

It was a very good way to welcome in the cricket season, even if the weather is still more suited to football.  The World T20 competition does continue in Bangladesh but England have no further interest in that after the usual last few overs they bowled flew all over the field. Quite why England persist with Dernbach in those situations, I have no idea. He also dropped a 'dolly' in the match against Sri Lanka, using the new catching technique adopted by the modern players where the palms face away from the body.

We were always taught to have the fingers facing skywards and the palms towards the body. I did ask Angus Fraser at the dinner why the catching art had been tampered with, but he was a bit grumpy so did not give me any plausible explanation save that apparently the players can watch the ball straight into their hands, or in Dernbach's case onto the grass.

A little something for the weekend....

It's been a long time since I have had to pay for my car to be serviced, and it was not the shock I was expecting it to be, that is, until they inspected the tyres. One off-side tyre  had a bulging inner wall and the other had a split which showed the steel wiring. At £200 each, that did blow the service budget a bit. I am sure rubbers were cheaper than that the last time I brought some.

Oh well, it had to be done, you can't mess with 'elf and safety or the possibility of 6 points on yer license.

While the car was in the garage, I took the opportunity to go and explore the new Liverpool central library which has recently undergone an expansion and face-lift. I have to say the place is fabulous.

The old parts of the library incorporating the Picton reading room, the Hornby library and the Oak room have been fully restored, and a whole new section has been built to house local history reference, a kid's discovery area and a gaming pod all within the infrastructure of the traditional lending library concept.

The is a café, at least 50 public internet stations and a roof top viewing gallery and terrace. It really is a magnificent building.

The older rooms referred to above house displays and exhibits from the Liverpool archives, which change every few months. The current displays include the original Henry II seal of office, the oldest surviving Liverpool city seal, letters from Charles Dickens and a photographic history of the Adelphi hotel.

Many old manuscripts and illustrated volumes were also exhibited so anyone wandering around could view them.

It's definitely worth another visit, and next time I will be investigating the archives in more detail to see if I can find more information about the early occupants of Hill House. 

Tally Ho!

The rugby six nations competition came to a dramatic end on Saturday, as a forward pass in Paris denied England the Championship, and handed it to an Ireland side who England beat a few weeks ago. C'est la vie.

England needed to beat Italy in Rome by a massive score, to put pressure on Irelands superior 'goal difference'. They scored seven tries but unfortunately gave a soft one away and consequently fell ten points short. A series of second half  substitutions disrupted the flow of the England game, as had been the case in Paris on the opening day, and coach Lancaster really needs to look long and hard at himself and decide whether they really do add value.

Everybody knows what Tuilagi can add to the side, but his introduction for Burrell served no purpose other than to irritate Burrell and disrupt the England mid-field. Far better to try him on the wing in place of Johnny May who has still to show he has the game for international rugby.

I can't help feeling that if New Zealand had needed to beat Argentina by 50 points to win the Southern Hemisphere equivalent tournament, that they would have done it and kept most of their starting XV on the pitch for the majority of the game. England still have a few steps to climb to be at their level.

I watched the Saturday games unfold with a few mates in the Lake District. The day began with a visit to the local hunt, where we watch the pack of hounds follow a pre-laid scent trail up down and over the fells. It was all conducted on foot, and it found out my lack of fitness very quickly.

There was a hunt within the hunt too, as the locals kept an eye on the hunt saboteurs as they tried to disrupt proceedings. The police seemed disinterested and certainly sided with the local farmers, who were out to ensure minimum damage to their flock during the lambing season. Hunting is a country ritual which the city dwellers would do well to leave well alone.

We saw one fox, but the hounds were high up near the snow line and failed to pick up its trail, so it lived to fight another day.

All in all a fascinating insight into fellsmanship and life in a farming community.

Ashes to Ashes

English cricket is in a bit of disarray at the moment. Jonathan Trott is suffering from a stress related illness which forced him home from the Ashes tour, Graham Swann found the tour too tough and bailed out, England got thumped, and Kevin Pietersen was informed that his services were no longer required by the national side.

Last things first. The Pietersen business is taking up far too many column inches ( including these). Like a lot of South Africans he is first and foremost interested in himself. Yes he has played some magnificent innings for England, but very few have been played with his back to the wall, when the need to bat for 4 sessions or more was paramount. In the Ashes series just gone, he time and again gave away his wicket easily. Rule number one for all school boys is keep your wicket intact....I would have said keep your end up, but the pc police would have had a go at me.....Geoff Boycott would have batted all day for 6 runs if need be. So Paul Downton and his England selectors have done right by me and waved him goodbye. he can go off to India now and earn himself some money.

It is interesting that Eoin Morgan has decided to forego the riches on offer in the sub-continent to try to win a place in the England side. Interestingly Morgan has played more games in the IPL than any other English player.

What to make of Graham Swann though?  As news filters out that Jimmy Anderson played most of the tour with an injury, Swann's decision to bail out was a really soft choice. The fact he has been offered a contract on Test Match Special by the BBC has also ruffled a few feathers amongst the traditionalist, and rightly so.

The scene is set, therefore, for the new cream of English cricket to rise to the top of the county game and force their way into captain Cook's side for the Sri Lankan tests to come. It should be straightforward as we play them in April and May when it will be bitterly cold and they will be forced to wear five or six sweaters!!

I wish Trott a speedy recovery, but sense his career may now be over. I also noticed Morgan's  Irish colleagues beat West Indies yesterday in a T20 warm-up game in Trinidad.  I do hope that does not inspire the Ireland rugger chaps when they play at Twickenham at the weekend.

Pretty Flamingo

So Valentine's Day has come and gone, and hopefully I got away with it again.

SWMBO and I visited Babylon, a  Sir Richard Branson owned restaurant in the Roof Gardens in Kensington. I have not visited the Roof Gardens for many years, the last time being a work Christmas party hosted by our marketing organisation. I went with Steve McMillan, an old mucker of mine from our time together at IBM. Steve now lives over the pond, and co-incidentally its his birthday today, so have a good one matey!

The roof gardens were built on top of  the Derry and Toms department store which  was opened in Kensington in 1933. The gardens were laid out between 1936 and 1938 by Ralph Hancock, a landscape architect  They cost £25,000 to create and visitors were charged 1 shilling to enter. Money raised was donated to local hospitals and £120,000 was raised during the next 30 years.

The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975, they have been listed as a Grade II site by the English Heritage since  1978.
The Roof Gardens have been rented from their owners by Sir Richard Branson since 1981 and as well as the restaurant, there is a nightclub on the garden level which is  divided into three themed area's.

• a Spanish garden, in a Moorish style based upon the Alhambra in Spain, with fountains, vine-covered walkways and Chusan palms;
• a  Tudor style garden, characterised by its archways, secret corners and hanging  wisteria. Roses, lilies and lavender contribute the rich summer scent to the garden;
• an English woodland garden, with over 100 species of trees, a stream, and a  garden pond that is the home to pintail ducks and four  flamingos called Bill, Ben, Splosh and Pecks. There are over 30 different species of trees in the woodland garden, including trees from the original planting over sixty years ago, despite having only a metre of soil in which to grow. Although they are on a rooftop, the trees were made the subject of tree preservation orders in 1976.

Unfortunately the Flamingos were tucked up in bed for the night when we went, and only the terrace shown in the photo was open. London was being battered by high winds and I think a flying lady was the last thing Virgin and Sir Richard wanted that night.

Still its a wonderful hidden gem, which cannot be seen from the road, and it is available to the public to visit whenever there is no private function booked. I commend it to you all if you are in the area.