What fore?
Thursday 21 September
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Started the day off with some nice rain. We had a 9am tee time (I told you I had a busy day) and stuck with it despite the rain. “We” is Bill, myself, Henry (Bill’s host) and Andrew (a Rotarian who lives two doors down from Henry). The weather broke by the third hole and it became a beautiful day. Layers were peeled off and fun was had. Well, except that I played some of the worst golf of my life. But, hey, it was bad golf in Scotland!
Bill played very well - he’s quite good for not playing very much. It was Bill and Andrew vs. Henry and me. Andrew was on fire on the back nine - par, birdie, par, par at one point. He parred the last hole we played with a 40-foot putt from the fringe - even though he had to take a drop because he lost his ball on the drive. Henry and I muddled through - he was much more consistent than I was, but my bad play coupled with Andrew and Bill’s good play sealed our fate.
Bill and I relaxed at Henry’s for a bit, and then had vocational visits. I got to spend a little over an hour with one of the more sought-after musicians in Scotland - Ian Muir. He’s an accordian player and bandleader and specializes in Ceilidh music. We discussed traditional music and dances, he showed me how an accordian works and I got some insight into what Ceilidh had evolved into. Very interesting, and he’s a great guy. His wife and young son walked in at one point, and the first thing his son said was, “I think I hurt my bum.” That was funny.
We had a presentation at the Prestwick Rotary club this evening which, despite some odd quirks with the DVD player, went over well. There was a piper who started off and ended the evening, which was quite a nice touch.
After the meeting we went back to Henry’s for a drink, and I got to catch up with Adrienne and Melissa.
Tomorrow we are off to the Stranrear club, which is about as far south as you can get in Scotland.
Scottish weather note of the day: wind here means business. It nearly blew some of us off a cliff at the castle yesterday, and played havok on some golf shots today.
Jason