Up early for golf - Wayne, John Hawkins - good round
Bath
Walk round Burford - mum, sweets, beer, coffe
Meal at home, um, family, Sue, presents, drinking, Who am i?
Stayed up instead of bed - too noisy in front room - out to bar. On my own - absolutely loved it, 3.00am finish...
Busy day at work and got things done
Charlotte’s birthday this weekend so quite full on in preparation for that.
Lewis came down and had left work early so arrived about 6.30pm – he’s looking well and healthy and is clearly keen on his girlfriend Emily so that’s really nice for him and pleasing from our point of view that he’s happy and healthy.
Mum also came round for dinner tonight – I think it’s going to end up being a weekly event now because that’s the last 3-4 weeks we’ve done this. I think she looks forward to it as it’s getting her out of the house and getting company.
Had a few drinks and watched some TV – Lewis and I stayed up a bit late then he fell asleep by midnight so I gave up and went to bed. Will see how drinking this weekend goes – hopefully it will be sane and not mad!
Also my birthday present arrived..a set of golf clubs I’d won on eBay. They’re clearly cheap ones but I hope they’ll do as a beginners set – we’ll see soon enough when I get down the driving range!
Bit of a restless night, up and down getting drinks of water and hoping the hangover wouldn’t kick in. I felt a bit rough in the morning – that was x3 pints of Moretti, but Tash was really ill and throwing up in the toilet.
A real shame and something we need to look at avoiding, it doesn’t make for a decent weekend and is a lot day. So everything we would have liked to have done in the morning went a bit pear-shaped as she was still being sick at 3.00pm.
Anyway, we had a booking for swimming at 9.15am and went to that but were only in the pool for about 20 mins and then back to the Manor for breakfast but she had none and went back to bed – what a shame and a waste.
Breakfast was nice – we then checked out, dumped the bags and wandered around the course. It’s a competition course and has hosted the Ryder Cup before, the greens looked punishing, they were incredibly hard.
I’ve been looking at getting some golf clubs so had a bit of extra interest watching players techniques, I think I’ll find it hard going!
Anyway, got in the car and drove home without incident and unpacked at home, and then made our way over to Sue’s for dinner
But that wasn’t before we met a girl that Jack is interested in and has been seeing for a couple of months – Afnan Sadani – she came down and chatted in the garden with us. Studying law at Manchester and is a very pretty girl. Articulate and friendly as well so it was nice to meet her.
Sue’s was nice, not much going on there other than I participated in and won an auction on some golf clubs on eBay – delighted about that and now need to practise like made so I can get on the course at some point!
Came home and watched the end of the Dennis Nilsen drama we’d watched which was enjoyable and then off to bed for an early night
A really nice weekend and the visit to the Manor was really enjoyable but I think it’s highlighted an issue with drinking that we need to be aware of, it’s causing us a lot of lost time, and money and isn’t so good.
Got sorted in the morning in readiness for the day and picnic etc. Dropped Tash at Yoga and then dropped Bess at Mum’s. Mum was really looking forward to having her, Bess looked a bit sad when I dropped her off and left – but I know she’ll have a great time
Had a call with a Property Broker with Jack and that was interesting then went and picked Tash up and we went off for our weekend away
Just south of Bristol we went to a beach called Ladye Beach which was pebbly but popular – was quite nice to have our picnic and a snooze and just relax for a few hours
Went to the Manor and it was what you expected it to be, very oldle worlde. They’re hot on covid19 but it was fine
Nice room overlooking one of the holes (16th?) and we relaxed with music and some drink. Had an early dinner booked at Pad which was a Thai restaurant for 6.45pm.
The meal wasn’t the best – the Thai Red Curry was far too hot and I swapped with Tash (it was hers) and I couldn’t finish it. The couple next to us heard us giving feedback and turned and talked to us. They were a couple from Cardiff, Steve and Michelle, nice enough but we couldn’t get away from them and ended up sat in the bar with them for the rest of the night and got very drunk indeed.
Eventually gave up the evening (they wanted us to stay longer) and staggered to bed and crashed out. Wasn’t what we really wanted or envisaged for a relaxing night away. Never mind, they were really nice and it was an interesting night.
Earlier in the night we found out Jack had won his match for Didcot 4-1 and he’d scored a goal we could see on Twitter so that was pleasing and he was buzzing about it
A very nice day all told
Decent day today – loads of work with Raintree in the morning and then cycled to the JR to give blood
No problems this time and done and dusted within 5 minutes! Very quick.
Cycled home through town so did 13 miles in the end – decent start
Loads more work and then after dinner Jack, Charlotte and I went to Binsey Lane and got onto the golf driving range. Had to wait as it was full but got 100 balls and it was fun
Jack and I were okay this time and using the driver was exciting – Charlotte was less “accomplished” it has to be said…but it was nice to spend some time together and will have to do it again.
Back home and watched some TV – James May in Japan again and it was so cool seeing him in Hiroshima and visiting the island we did.
A nice day all told
Bit still from the practise last night but was dropped off by Tash down at the golf course at 8.00am and met up with Wayne & Paul. Cup of tea and bacon sarnie and then collected the clubs I was going to use and then had a swing of a few balls to warm up and get my eye in…not impressive!
We were the first group off at 9.00am and away we went. Overall I was okay, I didn’t par any holes or even come close but I enjoyed myself and didn’t let myself down until the last x3 holes where I was tired and sort of just gave up. Lovely hot day and I feel quite confident that I will carry on now as more of a regular thing as it was enjoyable when you hit the ball right and it went roughly where you intended. So that’s my challenge to keep it up and practise. How much I will do so is anyone’s guess!
Had a few pints afterwards and there was a raffle etc and the girls arrived for a couple of drinks and a chat and then we went home but Wayne & Kerry came over for a BBQ in the evening. Loads to drink and it was good fun, bit tipsy!
We all woke up with hangovers today and I didn't get up until about 11.00am. Wayne was worst out of all of us and it was clear no one had any energy or enthusiasm to go out and do anything so we didn't and just sat sleeping and lazing by the pool. Which was actually quite nice
Had some lunch and decided to give the golf a go. I wasn't overly keen on it I must admit but agreed to it and I'm glad I did. We left around 4.30pm, hired me some clubs and sorted out the round details and then went to the driving range to have a practise. I was okay and felt comfortable so after some putting and that we went down to the first tee to get going
I sliced my first shot left and lost the ball...my first ever proper golf shot. Ah well. Wayne was decent as id expected and Paul was a bit more consistent than me. We went through to the 14rh hole before it got too dark to play but by then we were all flagging and tired. We'd not taken enough water or food and were struggling big time. Went back to the reception and everyone was waiting for us and we got some drinks, I had a full large bottle of water, drank the whole lot.
Went back to the villa and had some pizza by it was after 10.00pm. Time had flown by. I was so tired, couldn't be bothered to do much more than drink coke and check social media before going to bed around 11.30pm.
I really enjoyed playing the golf and I’d like to think that with regular practice I might be able to hold my own and get a respectable score. Hopefully I'll be able to make an attempt at playing or practicing some more. We'll see!
I did win one hole, but struggled to keep my shot count down, some shots were really good so I was pleased with my first proper round of golf.
Look closely and you will see the ball – it didn’t quite make the lake though!
