http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/Old geezer's ramblesen-UKhttp://backend.userland.com/rss092http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/0e/4c6e46e136d9c9b314129b6ecdfd02_160x200.jpg <p>The moment Paris left, I started this very nasty cold. But I did mountains of laundry. On Thursday I went to golf, looking for sympathy. Didn't get any.</p> <p>Then I discovered that the Solo's golf trip to Spain for New Year was sold out. So I signed up for a trip to Turkey at the end of February. Everything included - golf, food, snacks, drinks (local stuff, but I'm not too fussy as long as it's alcoholic) - so something to look forward to.</p> <p>Friday came, and I forced myself out of my sick bed to stagger up to the golf club. The dozen blokes waiting for a game heard me croaking and coughing and suggested that I went out first in a one-ball. But no. I went out as normal and took the money, thanks to an excellent short game. Eight pars (Tiger would look for that many birdies, but that's what he is paid handsomely to do), but so unwell that I couldn't force down the last of my pint. I said I wasn't well!</p> <p>No interest in food, but I had to go to the supermarket to replenish my empty fridge. Then there was England and Wales on the box, losing at rugby to Australia and New Zealand. Not madly exciting. But Burnley got a 3-3 at Man City. That's good!</p> <p>What a bore I am. OK, still am. Is it what they call "loss of affect"? I can't even go to bed early because millions of quidsworth of fireworks are being exploded in the neighbourhood. I don't know why they don't all go the the Heath to watch the spectacular show put on the the council to curry favour with the ratepayers.</p> <p>OK. I've made the token posting, and I will shortly take the LemSip route to bed. My cold is quite debilitating. Happily I can feel the waves of sympathy coming over the ether. Thanks, folks.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/11/07/i-m-not-a-well-man-7327790/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/11/07/i-m-not-a-well-man-7327790/Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:31:32 +0100 <p>...but it's over now, so I can sag back into do-nowt mode.</p> <p>Paris and Bristol arrived on Friday, by which time I had played golf, collected cake and fruit salad from M&S, and made a lasagne. There is more boasting to come.</p> <p>Brighton added to the numbers on Saturday. After my trip to Sainsbury's,<br> there was a potage bonne femme (otherwise known as "summer soup" - summer this and summer that). At some point, Rick went off to shop and advised me that, acting on information received as to the only thing I fancied for my birthday, he had taken the liberty to buy me a replacement built-in oven, on behalf of the siblings.</p> <p>Then North London arrived, accompanied, happily, by Frank and Laurie, whom we haven't seen for four years. My grog supply took a merciless beating while I got the steak and kidney pies in the oven. Fifteen sat down to eat, by which time I was beyond worrying about whether there was enough.</p> <p>A happy evening. Pumpkins were carved and illuminated (one left out at the front to indicate treats were available). There were fireworks, and a launching of paper hot air balloons, and a bit of music. Then, when everybody was still asleep - every room in the house was occupied - at 7.40 on Sunday morning the doorbell rang. The oven was being delivered. End of sleep and any thoughts of a lie-in. But my competent sons took out the old and wired in the new, and by 9.30 I had a new oven! (A side note - we put the old oven outside - 56kg of scrap, and by next morning it had disappeared.)</p> <p>So we tested the new oven with a roast lamb Sunday lunch, while the rain teemed down outside.</p> <p>Then it became Monday. It was cool but sunny on the golf course, and I played OK, while Paris went up to London Town. They went out to Helen for supper later. Quiet chez moi!</p> <p>On Tuesday I went to see the vampire at Guy's Hospital; next week I will find out what the PSA count is. And we watched the entertaining last half hour of ManU's match. Some stayed up to learn about black holes from a BBC programme. I went to bed.</p> <p>Paris left at ten this morning. I did some laundry then went up to the golf club (by bus, of course) for a couple of beers and the Veterans' AGM. I seem to have missed lunch, so an early supper beckons, and a bit of football on the box.</p> <p>The snag about having a new oven is that it will expect to be cleaned, a function I haven't performed for many years. Perhaps a nice young Polish girl...?</p> <p>Too busy to reflect on the endless incompetence of British governments. How I will play tomorrow is the main question. And whether I dare watch Liverpool. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/11/04/very-busy-time-7307321/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/11/04/very-busy-time-7307321/Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:41:16 +0100 <p>Here are four names which make me go "Oh no, I'm gloomy enough": Coldplay, Elbow, Richard Hawley, and, new to me, Doves. I came across the last-named on a BBC thing about electric something, and the Doves (Wilmslow lads, Helen and Rick might be amused to hear) did a lively set with a Bulgarian choir. In fact, I quite enjoyed the show, so I downloaded some of their stuff. Elbowish. Enough said.</p> <p>But I watched an excellent show on Sky Arts which was part of a guitar festival - Crossroads Chicago. (Tom - look away now) Clapton was the main man on the set I saw, and he had Jeff Beck, Robbie Robertson and Stevie Winwood with him. They all sounded fresh and dynamic. I might even buy the DVD. Blind Faith stuff is still good, you know.</p> <p>Now here's a thing. Fleetwood Mac are back on the road, and a five-star review in the paper today. "In two and a half hours, there isn't a dull moment", it says in my paper. Who says 70's music is passé (apart from Tom)?</p> <p>Château Dubois is building up to La Grande Arrivée. There is food and drink, and a little to spare. The bad news is that lots of rain is forecast for Sunday. On verra.</p> <p>The golf is still going reasonably well. All I have to do is turn my arse along with my shoulders, then rip it. Easy, really.</p> <p>I was going to mention the Pope and his takeover bid for the woman-fearing homophobe wing of the CofE, but medieval church politics isn't even amusing. The blokes who have gone over will be revelling in their robes and incense flim-flam, and they are even married. There could be some jealous chaps over there.</p> <p>I went to see Nursie today to have the three-monthly hormone implant stuck in my tum. There's no point in complaining: all they say is "Well, you're still alive, aren't you?" and all I can say is yes.</p> <p>A little jest. A dyslexic woman had been to the doctor for some tests. She was called to tell her that the test results were in, and that the doctor wanted to see her. So she went in, and the doctor said "You have acute angina". She blushed and said "Well, thank you doctor!"</p> <p>More golf tomorrow while the Paris mob are on the road, then I shall devote myself to my guests. Though I reserve the right to slip off for a nap if I need one. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/29/dirgemeisters-7269658/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/29/dirgemeisters-7269658/Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:50:45 +0100 <p>The Guardian continues to impress. The stuff about the dodgy oil traders dumping toxic waste in Africa, then getting an injunction to prevent the paper from saying that an MP had tabled a question in the Commons about it was excellent. The equally dodgy lawyers got a black eye, and big questions were aired about legal process.</p> <p>Today, the paper is telling us about the Met Police's system for keeping on computer details of people (and their cars) who have gone to demos against e.g. arms trading, coal-fired power plants etc. It starts to sound like the old East German Stasi. They'll be asking us to inform on our neighbours next. I wonder which politicians authorise this kind of thing, or more worryingly, if they don't, how does the Met get away with it?</p> <p>You thought big sport was dodgy, but atleast it doesn't impinge on civil liberties. And Liverpool gave ManU a seeing to.</p> <p>And small sport's OK. Fifteen of us went out this morning, and your humble correspondent won. By virtue of a forty-foot putt on the 18th. You have to make these moves when it matters. And a tax-free ten quid is important in these troubled times.</p> <p>There is a very busy week coming up, but I have thought about it so much that it is now looking pretty straightforward. I roasted a chicken last night, so I will have a chuck mayo salad next, there will be curried remains, and the carcase will provide stock for a minestrone on Sunday. Then no more chicken for a month.</p> <p>This weather is very nice. I even had laundry on the line yesterday. My action plan has no entry for tomorrow, so I may have to play golf.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/good-old-guardy-7248612/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/26/good-old-guardy-7248612/Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:22:05 +0100 <p>...qui,moi? But some people will be pleased to know that I have fully planned next weekend's grub, give or take the odd snack. And that I promise to find some time to push a hoover and duster round the place.</p> <p>There has been much hoo-hah about Griffin appearing on a BBC program. I don't know what he wants for himself (it surely can't be political power), but I do worry that there seems to be a self-appointed collection (can't call it a group) of English people who claim the exclusive right to have a democratic opinion. Griffin might be a nasty piece of work - the media tell me so, but I don't know because I have never met him - but there are a lot of English people who share some of his views. I have some opinions that would get me barred from reading the Guardian, but don't we all? The democratic concept is looking a bit threadbare these days. How can it seem to be such a good idea that it must be imposed on people of a totally different social background? Are we still trying to leave our footprints in the aftermath of empire? Britain has only been practising it (democracy, I mean) for about eighty years, whatever the received wisdom about Magna Carta and Parliament and topping difficult kings.</p> <p>No politics for me. But I read a nice bit about a group of rich Germans who think they should be subjected to a wealth tax. They have quite enough to live on, thank you, and feel that they should make a greater contribution to the national kitty.</p> <p>You don't hear many rich Brit slobs thinking like that.</p> <p>Now where was I? I went to Woolwich to get my life certificate signed by the Electoral Register Office. Quite reasonably, my French pension payers need to be reassured that I am still alive. And I went on the bus, and I did some shopping (for extremely cheap clothes). And I got a haircut from my Kurdish barber. He insists that it must always be done with scissors only, a notion too technical for me.</p> <p>The house next door is to let/for sale, and I have just seen the people who fancied buying my house a couple of years ago, and they are still looking to buy. Am I open to offers?</p> <p>My sister Christine called today. They are off on their three-month trip to Hong Kong and Australia to inspect the grandkids. A bit of a marathon.</p> <p>BBC web headline today: "Man denies sawing off wife's head." Well he would, wouldn't he. Deny it, I mean.</p> <p>Warmed up magret de canard boulangère ce soir. And a big shop tomorrow. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/23/planning-ahead-7231065/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/23/planning-ahead-7231065/Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:09:48 +0200 <p>As recommended by Bob Dylan. There was a bit too much sport on the box on Saturday, so I popped over to BBC and watched an hour of a film about Waterloo. Historically in order, but Rod Steiger as Napoleon took a bit of swallowing. Entertaining, because we knew the result, but fairly pointless. It's a bit like sport really, which is a pastime, not an earth-shattering matter of real importance.(Even the Millwall, Charlton and Arsenal supporters in my golf squad admit that.)</p> <p>On Sunday morning, the outside temperature was 1.5º, which called for a touch of central heating. It will be on more than it is off for the next few months. But there was a bit of sunshine which showed up my dirty windows, so I washed them, and now I can see through them.</p> <p>Fairly ordinary golf results this week, though my three-ball today gave a nice result - Tom won the front nine, Harry won the back nine, and I won the overall, so no money changed hands.</p> <p>I can't bring myself to comment on the Afghan farrago, except to think that there is a virtual civil war being waged for the future of Pakistan. It is scary to say the least, and it does seem to be in the West's best interest to help to squash the Taliban. The US have clearly had a word in Karzai's ear and told him that the game is up for him. So where do you find the next "good" guys?</p> <p>I am concentrating on the loaves and fishes question; I have made a provisional list of dishes to feed the mob, and there is always bread and pasta if all else fails.</p> <p>One of my golf chum's wife has been wheelchair-bound, suffering from MS, for many years, and she is currently in intensive care after a fit/stroke. Geoff said today that the doctors have told him that there is no hope of survival. I am talking to him.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/keep-on-keepin-on-7208275/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/20/keep-on-keepin-on-7208275/Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:39:52 +0200 <p>I said I didn't win anything on Monday, but I had forgotten my raffle prize - a bottle of agricultural rum - "rhum agricole" - from Martinique. I won't drink it all at once.</p> <p>And I played three more times this week, and won a few quid by being steady. OK, by being not as bad as the others. And the weather has been gorgeous.</p> <p>I have been fiddling with music, and my current Number One album (I missed it the first time around) is Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. Old-fashioned I may be, but it's good music. And Arkansas rockabilly. Sun Records, with Perkins, Presley, Cash and others. Very jolly. I have downloaded some Sonny Burgess, the Arkansas Wild Man (I think he was an insurance salesman in between cutting primitive rock'n'roll tracks). Get up and boogie! And don't step on my blue suede shoes!</p> <p>My main preoccupation (apart from missing some gettable putts) is the upcoming Big Visit. How to feed them all? But I have taken comfort by re-reading my blog posts of the last two years (available to everybody from Archives). It seems that nobody starved. There may be as many as fifteen for the Saturday bash, so I may have to think in terms of either buffet or two sittings. But it is best to have one big sitting, so I'll think of something.</p> <p>A couple of days off now. Housework and gardening, shopping, cooking and watching sport on the box. There's no rest. But the golf course will be there waiting for me on Monday, so it's all right. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/just-another-week-7182079/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/16/just-another-week-7182079/Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:32:21 +0200 <p>My team of three went to Sheerness for a veterans's competition. The golf course is on reclaimed marshland on the Thames estuary, and it is open to the wind off the sea. Which duly blew. We didn't win anything, but we played OK and had a good day. The rain arrived as we left for home.</p> <p>Then there was Heineken Cup rugby, with the usual biff-bang matches. Very entertaining, but I am not happy about the distance the modern rugby ball can be routinely kicked. Once upon a time, a goal from half-way was amazing, but now they are ten-a-penny. It's the equipment, especially with golf. The great old golf courses are being reduced to pitch and putt because of the clubs and balls. The USGA was too scared of legal action from the manufacturers to impose limits. Tennis too. The balls are hit so hard nowadays that the old skills - drop shots, lobs ... are disappearing.</p> <p>Kate arrived for a day's rest on Sunday. She has gone to a conference today about Sami's condition, then dinner in London with old friends and colleagues and a late train back to Bristol.</p> <p>We had yet another golf day today. The Vets' Captain's invitational golf and lunch. Didn't win again (I suspect that my winning days are over), but again I was able to turn up and play and enjoy it. Say no more.</p> <p>While I was making my first attempts to play golf - in Divonne, near Geneva - I won a trophy, which is a large silver tastevin. It weighs about 16oz. and it seems that its value as scrap is £168!!! Prizes were better in 1975. I had better polish it up and show it some respect.</p> <p>I have to say that I think golf as an Olympic sport is plain daft. What proportion of the world's population has access to a golf course? I suspect a massive brown envelope job on the part of the equipment manufacturers. Though I suppose there are other events - stuff to do with horses and yachts - which are hardly accessible to the huddled masses either. Oh well.</p> <p>The Nobel Peace Prize for a bloke who has only been in office for a few months. What's that about then? What do those Norwegians put in their tea? Perhaps Obama got it for not being George Bush.</p> <p>There was a large plate of bangers and mash and cabbage after golf today, followed by a chunk of chocolate cake. Groan. No more food for me for 24 hours. And an early night. Followed, of course, by an early start on the 1st tee tomorrow. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/a-routine-sporting-weekend-7155703/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/12/a-routine-sporting-weekend-7155703/Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:35:08 +0200 <p>And the drought has broken (down here in the soft Sarf East). Our trip to Sweetwoods and the game were through persistent drizzle (the weather forecaster was obviously banged up in a windowless room as he droned on about "mainly sunny").</p> <p>So we got wet, but didn't dissolve. I had no desire to become active on Tuesday and Wednesday, so I loafed about indoors while the rain came down.</p> <p>There has been a fine crop of horse mushrooms in the garden, so they will be cooked in butter and garlic to go with my fry up tonight. If you don't hear from me again, you will know that I misread the mushroom type.</p> <p>There was a big event at the golf club today. The Veteran champions of all the clubs in Kent came up for a competition, but a few of us got out before them to enjoy a round in once-more glorious weather. I hope it stays like this because three of us are going down to Sheerness for a veterans' team event. Extra good because my pal Bal insists on driving us there. Guess what!</p> <p>A bit of leccy bother last night. Everything went off around midnight. No power, so I got a torch out and set my old alarm clock for an early start this morning. Then at 5.45 the power came back on. There are people outside digging and fixing. It seems that a mysterious box in the ground went phut, but it's all fixed.</p> <p>The Post Office stand-off is very annoying, partly because Amazon might stop using Royal Mail. If I'm out when a delivery comes, I can easily collect it from the village (sorry, that should be "Village" - it is Blackheath after all) post office. Other mail services tend to be based in hard-to-find places. As with all strikes, I'm not convinced that they get the desired result. I must say that I have always thought highly of Royal Mail, and I would like to see it preserved. Will someone bang heads together. There is no point in destroying such a nationally important operation because of an inability of the warring parties to make peace. I have to call it incompetence on both sides.</p> <p>Right. Rant over. There is a fair amount of visiting going on. Nisar had a couple of nights while pursuing his research in London. Kate will overnight this weekend on a similar mission, then Helen and friend might overnight here the weekend after. My room rates are going up, by the way.</p> <p>Then there is to be the traditional Toussaint/Hallowe'en party. Everybody is booked in on the Saturday (Paris are driving over), so I have time to start thinking about how to feed fifteen people. Last year, for a particular reason, M&S helped me out. We'll see.</p> <p>A spot of lunch now, then an inspection of the garden. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/getting-busier-7124649/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/08/getting-busier-7124649/Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:51:12 +0200 <p>... though fortunately there is golf. I played a couple of indifferent rounds recently, but I'm feeling a bit tired. Must be brave tomorrow, because we are playing our annual four-ball match for the Queen's Birthday Chalice (it's an old pewter mug that I donated twenty-odd years ago, but a posh title makes it worth playing for). That's at Clive's club, out in the boondocks between Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead, so a bit of extra driving called for.</p> <p>Then a Veterans' team event at Sheerness next Friday. I said there's not a lot going on.</p> <p>I have a beef stew bubbling on the hob, the first for months. It's getting to be that time of year. There's a touch of heating on as well. Never mind, it will be Spring in six months.</p> <p>Arsenal have just massacred Blackburn, and at the moment Chelsea are beating Liverpool. I wish I could care. But Burnley won again yesterday - much more important.</p> <p>Had a chat with Uncle John. He has acquired a Jack Russell puppy which of course bites his slippers and pees on the carpet. He is very pleased with it, probably because he has never had children so it's a novelty.</p> <p>I tried to have a nap this afternoon, but I find it difficult to nod off. Must try harder. Yawn. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/not-a-lot-going-on-7097228/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/10/04/not-a-lot-going-on-7097228/Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:47:56 +0200 <p>I don't go to the cinema, but I spent an hour and a half indoors watching an amazing film about Earth. It is by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, and consists mainly of wonderful aerial photography with an unobtrusive voice-over. The theme is about how we are wrecking the place. We hear about it all the time, but the pictures tell the story best.</p> <p>The film, "Home", can be found at tinyurl.com/yannhome. Brilliant!</p> <p>We had an agreeable golf match on Monday, followed by the usual big lunch - steak and kidney pie, one of my staples over the years, and very well cooked. I could only eat half of my portion, but the old blokes around me demolished theirs with gusto. And the apple crumble and custard. I just can't eat like that any more.</p> <p>Then I played a singles match on Tuesday and won it mainly because, after weeks of inability to hit iron shots, the ball was soaring off the club. I have no idea what I was suddenly doing right.</p> <p>And while I am not a big fan of one-day cricket, I watched England put the Saffers to the sword. Very entertaining. The semi-final on Friday is against Australia. Can our gallant lads do it to them as well?</p> <p>After the exertions of Monday and Tuesday I had to have a day off. A bit of laundry and light gardening, and time in front of the computer screen. Steak frites salade ce soir, with a nice drop of red, then I'll have to go up to the golf club in the morning to see whether the irons are still working.</p> <p>The Labour Party conference does not attract my attention. The UK is doomed to be governed by politicians, and that can't be a good thing. Nobody has a solution to the problem. Me, I'm just hanging around in the First Class departure lounge, hoping that the plane will be delayed. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/30/a-stunning-film-7070273/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/30/a-stunning-film-7070273/Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:52:39 +0200 <p>I don't know where the Gatwick Summer Special parking people had stored my car while I was away, but it must have been next to a building site. It was filthy. I'm not a fussy person, but I took it to a hand car wash at Homebase, where a hard-working lad from Eastern Europe gave it a good wash and dry. The list price was only a fiver so I bunged an extra quid. And I thought that washing cars is a miserable way for a young bloke to make a living. What is he going to do for the rest of his life? And there are millions like him in Europe alone.</p> <p>And there are millions more trying to get into Europe, and they don't understand that there is no work. Or that the Europeans don't want to/ can't afford to hand out benefits and accommodation to uninvited visitors.</p> <p>I'm a lifelong Guardian reader, left of centre if asked, but while I can sympathise, I can't see how it is all going to work out. But I'll be long shuffled off this mortal coil before it all gets really serious.</p> <p>This glorious weather is how it used to be in September in Geneva and in the wine-growing areas. They must have had a great vendange this year. I look forward to tasting the results.</p> <p>Obviously, I can't do much work in the garden, what with a sore back, so I have been enjoying it under the sunshade. It is extremely nice. And the golf isn't too badly affected. You try to swing and hit smoothly, rather than winding up for a lurching bash at the ball, and it pays off.</p> <p>We have a match tomorrow against the gentlemen of Chislehurst. This will end in a huge lunch, so supper will not be required. I have bought a chicken so I will roast that this evening and live off it for much of the coming week.</p> <p>I will now go and watch the England cricket team, who are currently in play against the Saffers, and soon I must remember to switch the oven on. What an excellently idle day! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/27/back-to-normal-ish-7049361/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/27/back-to-normal-ish-7049361/Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:58:29 +0200 <p>I think the last time I spent a week without any sort of news, whether papers or TV or internet, must have been while camping in the African bush a long time ago. And I didn't miss it (the media, I mean).</p> <p>There was a good mix of people, as is usual with a Solo's golf trip, and we were along the coast near the Portugal border. The Atlantic coast and weather are so much better than the Malaga-type Med stuff. The routine is simple. Get up, play golf, have a snack lunch and a few beers, then rest up until it's time for an aperitif, dinner with wine and conversation, and a few snifters after. There wasn't any decent music, so you couldn't dance off the grog. I know it sounds boring, but somehow we all enjoyed it.</p> <p>So I'm in recovery mode now. Laundry and things like that, and no golf until tomorrow. The garden is in good shape, so there must have been some rain to keep the pots watered. I might cut the grass later.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/23/back-from-off-the-planet-7024657/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/23/back-from-off-the-planet-7024657/Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:58:24 +0200 <p>I have to ease off from my frenzied lifestyle so that I can better appreciate my little holiday. A week of golf in Spain starts on Tuesday. I do hope it won't be too hot.</p> <p>So the Italian has scared the England footballers into making an effort. I watched much of the Croatia game once it became clear that they would win in some style. Then the women got thrashed by the Germans. So much for football for a while (though Charlton were on the box and played quite nicely).</p> <p>My golf has been reasonable lately, though I faded towards the end on Friday. I wonder if four games a week is causing a little fatigue. Hope not because I'll be playing five times next week. Just get up and do it!</p> <p>A brief mention of the ODI cricket. I feel sorry for the mugs who bought tickets for all seven games, carried away by the hype about the Tests. I even try to feel sorry for the Aussies, who dropped my favourite cricketer Brett Lee and so lost the Ashes. It isn't often that the inferior side wins a five match series at any sport.</p> <p>I wonder if they could hire Capello to take on England cricket and do what he seems to be doing for football. Kicking ass would seem to be a prescription.</p> <p>Now about blood pressure. It's all rather confusing: I have been measuring two or three times a day and there is great fluctuation during the day. But the general trend is within bounds, so I think I will put the gadget in a drawer and try it out once a month.</p> <p>My next-door neighbour David, who has been renting the house for about six years, has left, and the place has been worked on inside and out with a view to re-letting. I have been most impressed by the hard work done by a young Romanian bloke - it's quite tiring just watching him work.</p> <p>I went to Specsavers at Eltham this morning. My eye-test was done on Wednesday and the new specs were ready by Friday. Most efficient. Eltham was heaving around noon. The traffic, my dears, and the people! There is now a Lidl in the High Street, and also a Poundwhotsit, where I bought a nice leather belt. My belts have been getting progressively too short over the last year or so, and soon they won't go round me. I wonder if I will recover my former svelte figure once the Zoladex treatment is over.</p> <p>There is some chat in the media about the government having to cut back a bit on perks. I have never really understood the winter fuel allowance, paid to all us oldies whether we need it or not. I imagine that old widows scraping a living on the breadline spend it on Christmas presents for grandchildren, and I think they should still get it. But there are millions of comfortably-off people who really don't need it when there is a massive need for the government to economise. Labour is too scared of the Daily Mail to get moving on this one.</p> <p>And another item described as a "perk" is the free TV licence for over-75s. It should be a BBC matter, not a government one, except that the TV licence is now being openly recognised as a hypothecated poll tax.</p> <p>What a bloody shambles. Fortunately, my children's generation will sort it all out, just as we did after the war.</p> <p>I shall now water the pots and throw some shirts and smalls into a bag. Golf in the morning, and an early night.</p> <p>Hasta la vista. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/winding-down-6954967/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/13/winding-down-6954967/Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:24:11 +0200 <p>... otherwise I would have to watch England's ritual slaughter. It is impossible to understand how they won the Ashes series, given their general uselessness. The cricket fundraisers have decreed seven one-day matches against the Aussies, and, amazingly, there were about twenty thousand Hampshire layabouts at the game today. Don't they 'ave no 'ome?</p> <p>And in a few minutes the footballers will be showing their skills against Croatia. Comment would be superfluous.</p> <p>So back to the real world. Nine of us went into mid-Kent for an away day at a club known as The Ridge, and very pleasant, and hot, it was. The golf course was hacked out of Kentish orchards about 15 years ago, and enough apple trees had been left in situ to be a right nuisance. I was only able to be runner-up, but there was a few quid to put in my little purse.</p> <p>Some of the chaps collected large amounts of apples for her indoors to deal with. I didn't bother.</p> <p>I went for an eye test this morning. I have been a bit bothered by my right eye for years - it waters when there is a bit of wind and doesn't feel 100% - but the optician reckons that the incipient cataract won't need attention for some years yet. So I will get new specs in a couple of weeks, and my golf will improve dramatically. Of course it will.</p> <p>The blood pressure stuff is hard to understand. The diastolic reading fluctuates hugely, but still seems to be within reasonable bounds. So I won't pay much attention.</p> <p>I suppose I ought to go and have a look at the England footballers. The main thing is that there is golf tomorrow - I'm not very concerned about the doings of millionaire sports players (I don't say "sportsmen" because that refers to real people).</p> <p>Come on England!!!!! </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/09/might-as-well-post-6932733/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/09/might-as-well-post-6932733/Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:20:04 +0200 <p>Only two exciting events lately. I played with Stuart and Clive at Woodlands Manor on Friday, and every single one of my drives was good. Every one! There's a first time for everything, and I collected my winnings afterwards with, I hope, due modesty. Best I've played for ages.</p> <p>Since then, it has been a nothing weekend. A quiet morning in bed (more's the pity) reading. I didn't get up until 10 today and it didn't get any livelier. I watched bits of a lot of sport on the box, starting with Charlton (looking good), then a glance at the England football friendly. Today there was the second of no fewer than seven cricket 8ODIs, which England duly lost. There was rugby, about which I am becoming certain has too many players on the field. It was OK when your big fat forwards didn't run about, but nowadays they are all supposed to be fit and fast around the park. So it's all too crowded. But the Wallabies finally managed to beat the Boks. They seem to play each other every week, which is very boring.</p> <p>The other exciting event was trying out my blood pressure monitor. Very confusing. I get different readings within minutes of each other, so I suppose I should write them all down and do a statistical analysis. Or flog the machine on eBay and get back to a lifetime of ignorance.</p> <p>Nothing in the garden today, though I did water the pots. The grass doesn't grow like it used to. It needs hollow tining and top dressing and stuff like that, but I can't get the urge. So I bought a golf club online by way of keeping busy.</p> <p>A quiet week in prospect. An away-day at The Ridge GC on Tuesday, and an eye test on Weds. I can't see where my drives end up these days, and, let's face it, they are not that long. New specs indicated.</p> <p>Must take another BP reading. Got the gear. so use it.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/06/monday-tomorrow-again-6907124/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/06/monday-tomorrow-again-6907124/Sun, 06 Sep 2009 21:04:11 +0200 <p>There is much chat in the prints about evacuees when the war started. We had two, Roy and Gloria from Willesden. I recall a story that their dad was a bookie and their mum had run off with a GI, though none of that could have meant a thing to me. I do remember bashing Roy up once (we were about eight or nine); it's what you did to London softies. I don't recall what the sleeping arrangements were - there wasn't much room in our house, but my father had been sent away to Birmingham to learn to be an engineer.</p> <p>Dellow, that's the name. They didn't stay long, and I wasn't curious. Mrs Taylor, the widow next door, had a lad from Islington. It was a famous slum in those days, and he was supposed to have fleas. I remember his tattered jersey with holes in the sleeves (our clothes weren't much better), but I don't think we were very pally. It must have been horrible for him.</p> <p>We were far enough from Manchester (30 miles) not to be bombed, but there was plenty of shrapnel to collect. The elders used to tell us about the red glow in the night sky when Manchester was being blitzed, but otherwise, apart from the cold and the rationing and the absence of dads and uncles on active service, the war didn't hit us as kids directly. I mean in terms of being bombed. We hadn't been used to much anyway.</p> <p>Anyroad up, as we said in Lancashire, that was then.</p> <p>Gadgets now. My last gadget didn't please me, but Jake thought it was great, so he has it now. I have another couple of gadgets now. One is a cute little thing which does music and pics and video and radio, the snag being that it is ridiculously complicated. Patience, I tell myself. Just keep fiddling with it.</p> <p>The other gadget is a blood pressure measuring device. My GP surgery has pretty well lost interest in me because I am overlooked by the prostate people at Guy's, and nobody has checked my blood pressure in years. I'm not a hypochondriac, but I thought it might be useful to check what is going on. And lo and behold! I am only just below the "high" range. Well, it's nice to know. I am supposed to measure twice a day and write the numbers down, so I might well do that.</p> <p>I took advantage of an idle day yesterday to clean my kitchen. Not just a wipe with a damp cloth, but removal of all loose objects and a scrub all over with a cleaner. Of course, most people do that sort of thing every day, but it's a twice a year job for me. But wait until that nice young Polish girl comes around. Then the house will be really clean for the first time in years. As opposed to "clean enough".</p> <p>Scottish Power have just offered to supply me for £300 per year less than they are charging me at present. Our email exchanges continue as I seek to find the snags.</p> <p>September 3rd is a memorable date. It is when Swissair 101 fell into the Atlantic off Halifax, Nova Scotia, taking Alex and Petra with it. We remember. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/03/vaccies-and-gadgets-6885873/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/03/vaccies-and-gadgets-6885873/Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:27:49 +0200 <p>But I did some fairly heavy pruning, and the terrace is tidier than it has been for years. So what? I hear you say, to which I have no response. But if you let Nature have her way, you wouldn't be able to get out of the back door in a year or two.</p> <p>I did some more price research for gas and leccy, and I have sent what I think was a well-reasoned email to Scottish Power to ask for a well-reasoned reply. We shall see.</p> <p>Now, here is some info about Helmand province in Afghanistan, where our soldiers are being killed every day. It is 58,000 square miles in area; England is 50,000sq.m. Its population is 745,000; England's is about 50 million. How are we, the invaders, supposed to get a grip on it? I don't think that the inhabitants of our little island realise just how big everywhere outside Europe is. Does our ridiculous government know?</p> <p>By way of diversion I watched the 20/20 cricket against Australia. Fortunately, after our gallant openers had got out within five minutes, the Manchester rain arrived. No result. They propose to play another one this evening, starting at 7pm. There will be rain - I speak as a former Mancunian.</p> <p>Another diversion was to watch a late night TV show run by Jules Holland which I had cleverly recorded. Kaiser Chiefs were there, complete with violins, as was Seasick Steve (clever user of a niche). And it was my first exposure to The Streets, which seems to be mainly a solipsistic Brummie called Mike Skinner telling us about his life and times. Rap and garage and stuff hasn't reached me before. There was presence and musical skill, but I had to ask the old question: what's it all about?</p> <p>A less than sparkling performance on the golf course this morning, then I had to wonder what to do next. A rather feeble shop on Saturday had left me short of supper stuff, so I went out to M&S and bought some factory-made dinners. The shame of it! Is this the thin end of the wedge? Surely not, because if I don't have to go into the kitchen at 5pm I won't know what to do. But I'm going to find out. Tonight. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/01/suspended-animation-6868630/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/09/01/suspended-animation-6868630/Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:03:58 +0200 <p>Well, I played quite well again on Thursday, but yesterday the tortoise started to slip down the pyramid, and it could be weeks before he climbs back up again. Never mind, at least I'm out there.</p> <p>Not much going on. A Climate Camp has been set up on Blackheath. I have no idea what they do all day, but the cops have been warned off after their ridiculous thuggery last time. But I'm sure they wouldn't let me camp on the heath.</p> <p>Another surprising thing is the alleged discovery of a vast oilfield in Uganda. A lot of people close to the president will be rubbing their hands and arranging Swiss bank accounts to receive the goodies. Wouldn't it be nice if the goodies could somehow be shared out. Fat chance.</p> <p>Brown has just turned up in Afghanistan - wearing a collar and tie, the silly, silly man - and seems to be saying that we will send more soldiers there. Where will he get them from? What a shambles.</p> <p>There is football on the box, and the Arse have scored at ManU. Nobody expected Burnley to do much at Chelsea, and 3-0 seems quite respectable. And Charlton have won again - 100% so far.</p> <p>I have just gently cooked some wild salmon in butter and white wine, which I will eat with mayonnaise and a potato salad and a select Sauvignon blanc after the football. </p> <p>A plastic water butt I had ordered was delivered last night, and I have installed it to replace the large 50 gallon oak beer cask, which is more decorative but leaks - not useful for a water butt. Sheets and towels were dancing on the clothes line. I must stop being so bloody busy. But there is pruning to do and stuff. Keep on keepin' on, as Bob sang. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/29/another-idle-weekend-6849292/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/29/another-idle-weekend-6849292/Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:27:42 +0200 <p>In my rather English way, I had expected Burnley to lose to ManU - but they won, to the delight of 90% of the population. It has been mentioned that the entire population of Burnley would fit in Old Trafford. Then they beat Everton! Chelsea next.</p> <p>And in the same manner I expected our cricketers to be hammered by the Aussies - and it didn't happen. The Ashes Tests provide a unique spectacle in sport. Five matches played over 25 days, and the whole thing can turn on just a handful of small events. And the fact that both teams are less than the best doesn't really matter. I enjoyed Strauss's remark that "When we were bad we were very bad, and when we were good we managed to be just good enough".</p> <p>Now both sides have to endure no fewer than seven one-day games, purely in the interests of raising funds for the respective cricket boards. I'm sure the Aussies would rather go home now rather than face such an anti-climax.</p> <p>On a much more important sporting matter, my golf form has returned and I have won three times in the past week or so. Now I worry that the tortoise of form is about to slide down the pyramid, leaving me to struggle for weeks until it finds the steps and starts to climb again.</p> <p>Here's a bit of useless information: there are 142 golf courses within a 25km radius of London. So much golf, so little time.</p> <p>My last guests have just left. I must say that the food was better than when I am home alone. And I have noted that it is easy to become a bit of a hermit - it takes a little while to get used to the presence of others in the house. But it is clearly good for me (from time to time, of course, not all the time).</p> <p>Laundry and shopping now, then a return to <em>dolce far' niente</em>. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/26/no-more-doomsaying-6824576/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/26/no-more-doomsaying-6824576/Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:21:04 +0200 <p>First things first. I played well again on Monday, then on Tuesday I beat the other twelve blokes to take the money yet again. So the tortoise is balancing on top of the pyramid ready to slide down, taking my form with it. I never spend my rare winnings because I know I'll have to give them back soon.</p> <p>Very hot today, but I had to go out to meet a policeman. My old Xsara has been found by a DVLA detector van because it was untaxed. In Thamesmead, unsurprisingly. The police wanted me to claim it and pay £150 in various charges, and were baffled when I said I didn't want it. They took counsel, then said OK if I would sign a brief statement to that effect in an officer's notebook. We agreed to meet at the golf club, it being midway between us, and they will tell the council to take it away and scrap it.</p> <p>Some villain has had 18 months' use of the motor and will no doubt be cross that he has lost it, just as I was.</p> <p>Then I had to go to the supermarket because Brighton and Bristol have announced that they will be coming to stay for a couple of days. I don't really mind cooking for a dinner party on Friday evening because it's the only way I can do a <em>gigot d'agneau avec gratin dauphinoise</em> and a <em>tarte tatin</em>. Not very seasonal, but it's usually edible.</p> <p>I suppose I ought to hoover up the dead flies upstairs and check that the bathroom is fit for purpose. Fortunately, my children aren't too fussy, having been properly brought up in a somewhat scruffy environment.</p> <p>There will be cricket tomorrow, and the doomsayers (including me) are out in force. We have hired yet another South African, who is here, or so I am told, because he's not good enough to make a living playing cricket in RSA. I hope he sleeps well tonight. The Aussies will have fun with him and Bell tomorrow.</p> <p>Burnley have to play Man U tonight. It seems that they will receive £60million for being in the Premier League, so that does cushion the blow of being relegated straight away. There I go, doomsaying again. Must stop it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/19/getting-a-bit-busy-6758247/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/19/getting-a-bit-busy-6758247/Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:40:44 +0200 <p>...it ain't. I have just realised that it is a pyramid, not a wheel, and a tortoise does the business. It wanders slowly along the base, then it finds a staircase, which it slowly climbs (during which time I am striving to get a good golf score), then it finally reaches the apex and pauses there for a moment. Then it falls down the other side, and has to start its journey all over again.</p> <p>This past week, the tortoise has reached the top and I have had a decent week's golf. In fact, on Friday there were fourteen of us out and I won the money. Guess what happens tomorrow. Now, let that not be a self-fulfilling prophecy.</p> <p>I'm getting ready for my next golf trip. I have bought travel insurance and a parking place, though there are still four weeks to go. Christmas/New Year is a bit of a problem this year, as Solo's are only going to South Africa. It's a long way to go for golf, and I have already been to the places featured, so I won't bother. There is a singles trip to Thailand, but I'm a bit too old for that.</p> <p>I have been getting the pre-migraine aura a bit lately. In fact, I took a pink pill (Migraleve, for the pharmaceutically-minded) on the first tee last Monday, and after a few holes of competent play my partner asked if he could have one too. But yesterday the aura was accompanied by a minor headache. I haven't had a proper migraine for decades and I don't want one ever again.</p> <p>There is a chicken in the oven, with spuds. That means chicken salad, chicken curry and minestrone this week, though on different days, of course. Cheap, easy, and tasty. Better than lentils any day.</p> <p>The dreaded football has started, and I am busy not looking at Liverpool's match at Tottering Hotspur. (I think they are losing.)</p> <p>Some small progress with the garden clearup. It's a work in progress, gradual, so that I always have something to do if I feel the need.</p> <p>So after my roast chicken I will watch some USPGA golf and go to bed early. Up at 6.30 tomorrow to check whether the tortoise has fallen off yet. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/16/the-big-wheel-of-form-6737962/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/16/the-big-wheel-of-form-6737962/Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:07:06 +0200 <p>Is the speed of the passage of time supposed to accelerate as you get older? It is doing in my case.</p> <p>We had a very agreeable golf match with Sheerness on Monday, and I actually played quite well (I mention that for my own information, because I have been having a horrible time on the golf course - playing-wise, I hasten to add, not socially). The captain ordered steak pie and lots of veg for lunch, in spite of the temperature. Most people would have preferred cold cuts and salad, but Eric is convinced that a big winter feed is what people want. OK, there weren't many leftovers, and I didn't need supper.</p> <p>Speaking of food, my move to more interesting suppers hasn't been a success. I don't want couscous as a main ingredient. My first ever cooking of lentils didn't leave me panting for more. Dammit, I'm going to have a full English for supper tonight.</p> <p>I played a little bit better on Tuesday, then I sent some money to the grandkids' little accounts. Is the market turning up? Who knows. But by the time they are 18 they could have a nice/a nothing (strike out whichever does not apply) nestegg. I won't be around to find out.</p> <p>Wednesday was a day off. My three-monthly haircut was done. I think my Iraqi-Kurd barber has outside interests, but he only charges me £6 so I'm happy.</p> <p>A lovely program on Sky Arts about Sun Records (Memphis 1956-ish). Sam Phillips had four main performers for a couple of years - Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. What a bunch! And they had a 50th anniversary reunion (unfortunately Elvis couldn't be there). One of my favourites was there, Sonny Burgess, the Arkansas Wild Man, still with his resonant voice, and they all played and sang as if it was yesterday. Great fun.</p> <p>Then there was a bizarre football match - a friendly between Holland and England - three days before the Premiership season kicks off. What a mad idea. All this expensive talent who must have been told by their managers "Don't get injured!". What a pointless exercise. The Guardy's football writers tried today to discuss it as if it mattered, but that's what they get paid for.</p> <p>The spammers have suddenly discovered my Tiscali email address, and the penis-lengthening offers are pouring in. The spams arrive to my Google number too, but there is an effective filter which sidelines them.</p> <p>Oh, before I forget, I played quite well today. Made a fiver. Perhaps the Big Wheel of Form is turning upwards. We shall see. Tomorrow. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/13/thursday-already-6716520/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/13/thursday-already-6716520/Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:05:21 +0200 <p>...but much encouraged by this morning's cricket. I wasn't even going to look, but I turned on to watch the last rites and was wonderfully entertained for more than an hour by England's lower orders (that's a batting term in cricket, by the way, not an upstairs/downstairs term) putting the Australian bowlers to the sword.</p> <p>It's a pity that it was too hot to do much in the garden, though the laundry looked good on the clothes line. My shirts dried very nicely, but there is a slight hint that a touch of ironing is required. Not very likely though.</p> <p>As I was writing out my menu for the coming week, I realised how bloody boring it was. So I went to a tiny paperback (60p at the time) of Nigel Slater's 30 Minute Suppers, to try to rejuvenate my affair with the kitchen. This week, I will be eating: pan-fried sole with parsley butter (last night), lamb's liver with a Madeira and red wine sauce (that was just now), a cous-cous provençale salad, and Italian sausages with <em>lentilles de Puy</em>. And I always have a Full English on Friday.</p> <p>Can I keep it up? We'll see. There is a golf club lunch tomorrow as we host a match against the gentlemen of Sheerness, so a little light salad will be all for supper.</p> <p>Uncle John called to tell me about his 70th birthday pressies to himself. He has got a dog, a Jack Russell, and a Bentley Continental (because he needs a comfortable car because of his bad back, and because he has always fancied one). If you ask isn't 6 litres rather over the top, he sensibly replies that he can't take it with him - the dosh, not the car - so he will spend it in any way that suits him. Makes you (me!) think. Not that I fancy a posh car.</p> <p>He won't be able to go to the shops in Lyme Regis in it because there is no room for such a monster, so he has been looking at electric bicycles, the sort that you can sit on and go, and pedal a bit if the bike seems to need help. Ideal for me to go up the hill to the golf club in the mornings. Leave the clubs up there, and Bob's your uncle. Groceries ordered online. Don't really need a car. So I've had a look on the web. You never know.</p> <p>I have just read a review of a book about silence. The reviewer's thought was about the difference between aloneness and loneliness. The freedom of solitude/ the freedom to do nothing/ the lack of obligation to do something. So I have ordered the book in case it might give me a clue. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/09/still-idle-6687200/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/09/still-idle-6687200/Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:05:15 +0200 <p>... or as they say these days, "can't be arsed". I keep going into the garden to check on the pruning jobs that need to be done, snip a couple of shoots off, then retire indoors for a rest.</p> <p>A couple of rounds of incompetent golf - I'm sure it is mental rather than physical, but I don't know what to do about it. I blame the hormone implant which was renewed last week.</p> <p>I have been fiddling about with gas and electricity costs, and I am persuaded that the Thatcherite notion of competition lowering costs is a big fat failure. The whole energy scene is a cartel, and if there is a government body (Oftel, Ofgen, whatever), it is doing nothing to help the consumer. All the energy suppliers have different ways of calculating the amount they are going to take off you (standard charges per day or no charges, two tiers of charging or only one, and all the other mumbo-jumbo). I am so cross that I have knocked up a spreadsheet, on which I am entering the various companies' charges. I can find no significant bottom-line differences.</p> <p>And I think that the so-called comparison websites are rubbish. They seem to apply charges so that their favourites (biggest bribers?) come out as best buys.</p> <p>Yesterday was exhausting. We had organised a golf event, making up teams of four - two men and two women. It didn't start until 10am, and it became very hot and humid. The food wasn't going to appear until after four, so after a needful restorative pint I took the car home, had a shower, then took the 89 bus back up to the club. I was a bit knackered by this time, but a bottle of white and some interesting company made for an enjoyable meal. But then there was more grog, and the rain started to sluice down. It was the final pint that did for me, and a certain level of exhaustion at the end of a long day. Kind fellow-members gave me a lift me home, and I went to bed at once.</p> <p>Imagine my surprise this morning when the alarm went off. I must have set it last night, so I wasn't too blotto, I was just very tired. I thought it was Saturday, but when I realised it was Friday I had to get up to test the notion that a round of golf is a good cure for a hangover. The key moment is on the first tee, when you bend down to tee up your ball. If you don't fall over, you'll be all right.</p> <p>Then, after the game and the obligatory libation, I got into the car, turned the radio on and discovered that England were being slaughtered. I had to watch some of the ensuing carnage, but the weather forecast is set fair and doom is all around.</p> <p>A quiet weekend coming up, as usual, with the occasional glance at the cricket in case the Aussies collapse. Which they won't.</p> <p>And an early night. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/07/lethargy-6673709/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/07/lethargy-6673709/Fri, 07 Aug 2009 20:30:19 +0200 <p>... but nowt much else going on. The usual golf on Thursday and Friday, playing average. But the Test match is having some entertaining spells.</p> <p>Saturday was a shamefully idle day. It rained at Edgbaston, and it rained here. I just let the day slip away. OK, I could have been doing useful stuff, but the idle bug has struck and I contirved to do nuffink.</p> <p>Rick called from Stockholm airport on his way home from their Finland office. The kids are back from Mull this weekend, then they are off to their usual holiday in NW Spain. Brighton called on their way to Wales. They will be spending time with Bristol then going to the music festival whose name escapes me.</p> <p>I am making some (reluctant) progress with the pruning. There are three or four years' worth to catch up on. So I tore myself away from the cricket and took a radio outside to listen to while I snipped. Then Flintoff and Prior started bashing the ball around so I had to go back indoors and watch. It's tea at the Test just now so I will keep on watching.</p> <p>Supper is easy tonight, a simple chicken curry, so that's it. A "normal" week in prospect. I must take care not to overgolf myself. A likely story. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/02/fun-cricket-6636179/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/08/02/fun-cricket-6636179/Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:32:23 +0200 <p>There has been a lot of chat in the prints recently about how it is getting harder for people to "move up" class-wise. Such a high proportion of professional and media people these days are children of better-off parents, and very many went to fee-paying schools.</p> <p>It was different in my day (as my generation tends to find ourselves saying). Most of the score of blokes in my golf set are from working class backgrounds - hardly any of their parents owned a house or even a car (my parents didn't) - but the 50s and 60s were liberating. We all own our homes, and so do our kids. I am the only one who went to university, but I was lucky. The others have become comfortably off (though not rich) mostly through a combination of hard work and good luck. And, of course, an era open to all the talents, when those elements were all you needed. Plus a bit of talent.</p> <p>No more sociology. The buffet lunch that Bob had worked so hard on was very fine (though my potato salad is much better than his, yah boo), and there was an alarming quantity of grog. Just as well that my chauffeur was sober. The 286 bus dropped me off just a short stagger from my front door.</p> <p>I had to see Nursie yesterday to get my three-monthly needle in the tum to implant the hormone stuff. While I was out, I went shopping, and found this amazing shop where everything costs a pound. I got a big bag of goodies for £6, then I went to BHS and noticed a shirt for £5, then I visited Primark - two polo shirts for less than a fiver. So I'm fixed up for the foreseeable future.</p> <p>I was pleased to see that the swimming federation has banned the new swimsuits that let people go faster than ever. It's a shame that the golf bodies (USGA and the R&A) didn't have the courage to do the same when equipment started to enable players to hit the ball for ridiculous distances, thereby demeaning the great old golf courses. And tennis too. The rackets are so powerful that nobody has time to get to the net anymore, so the subtleties of the game have been swept away by the mighty hitters.</p> <p>There will be some cricket tomorrow. An England side with Bopara batting at three and Bell at four is frighteningly fragile, even against the less than scary Aussie attack. I do, of course, expect to be proved wrong.</p> <p>The old lady next door, who is under heavy sedation for her dementia, appeared this morning and asked me why I wasn't playing golf. I said I had laundry and housework to do, and she asked me whether I had thought of getting married again. Jack White's song came to mind, so I offered her the punchline - "I'm lonely but I ain't that lonely yet".</p> <p>Much pruning to be done, so I will have a snip after lunch. Snip, not kip. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/29/social-mobility-6610949/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/29/social-mobility-6610949/Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:42:21 +0200 <p>I know that they are the band <em>du jour</em> after about twenty years of trying, so I thought I would have a listen. My first, possibly over-hasty, thought was "pretentious codswallop". I knew they have chamber music thoughts, then I watched their act at Glastonbury - there is a whole string section playing along.</p> <p>There are strong notes of Fleet Foxes in some of the songs, and an unfortunate resemblance to Coldplay in some of the dirges. I still don't have a strong opinion either way. Not that anyone gives a stuff.</p> <p>More Tour. Cavendish hasn't lost a sprint finish, though his main rival hasn't had anything like the team support. Cav is young, articulate, and has been taking advice about arrogance, so he puts on a good show.</p> <p>It is instructive to follow the Tour on the Michelin atlas. They mostly use minor roads, and it is instructive to see what good condition they are in. The French have really looked after their infrastructure over the past thirty years.</p> <p>We drove up Mont Ventoux lots of years ago. The commentators were forecasting gloom and doom, what with the heat and the wind, but the riders seemed to get up it OK. It is hard to resist the notion that they have little helpers - can anyone be so fit? - but the testing is so rigorous that they can't risk it. There is an oil sketch I did of the mountain while we were camping in a cherry orchard at Malaucène. I was tempted to post a photo of it but then I had a closer look and decided that it is pretty poor stuff.</p> <p>One of our golf crowd has invited us all to his house for a buffet lunch today. I spoke to him on Thursday and he had already started the shopping and cooking. Whatever turns you on! I have discovered a bus service from close to here that goes close to them, so there will be a little extra snifter to go with the grub.</p> <p>And I have paid for my next trip. Golf with Solo's as usual, in Spain near the border with Portugal. That's in mid-September. As my generation often says, you can't take it with you. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/26/elbow-6590652/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/26/elbow-6590652/Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:29:38 +0200 <p>There has been much flu hysteria, as usual whipped up by the media, and not helped by our incompetent politicians and civil servants. The only beneficiaries are the drug companies. And from today it seems that you can call a help line, staffed by hastily "trained" people, in order to get Tamiflu without even seeing a doctor.</p> <p>I have read that the side-effects of said drug are worse than actually getting the flu and getting over it. The temptation to call a help line in order to get a day or two off work will be felt by a lot of people. Take an aspirin, folks!</p> <p>I stayed in on Tuesday. A long conversation with my French bank to activate on-line access to my account was satisfactory, firstly because it worked, and secondly because my long-forgotten French turned out to be quite competent. As some say about another function, use it or lose it.</p> <p>And the postman brought my new gadget, which required installing lots of programs to make it work, plus lots of guessing about how to use it. It's like a hobby really. Gives your remaining braincells a prod. It turns out that I don't actually need the gadget, but it is a very nice bit of engineering.</p> <p>Then on Wednesday morning I didn't feel like getting up, so I stayed in bed. A bit like lots of people with imaginary flu. The rest of the day passed quietly. Though the Tour was ferocious. I know the area of the day's climbs, and they are sadistic. But the riders these days are incredibly fit, even without the little chemical helpers of previous times (we suppose). After the Col de Colombière the race descended past Ian C's ski apartment in Chinaillon to Le Grand Bornand. Time trial today at Annecy.</p> <p>I read that Justin Langer has become the all-time Australian 1st Class run maker. He has got past Don Bradman's 28,000 total, though it took him 18 years and 615 innings. Bradman only needed 338 innings. Perhaps the bowling is better these days.</p> <p>When I birdied the 1st today, I thought "'ere we go", but it was not to be. Never mind, I was out there.</p> <p>I am going to indulge in a Full English Breakfast for supper. The minestrone that I developed from a chicken carcass is very tasty, but as usual I overdosed the veg and pasta so it is rather dense. I might make a pie out of it. And why not. Roll out some puff pastry, lump in the filling, cover, glaze, and bake. And eat it with chips? And ketchup? Yup. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/23/much-the-same-really-6574090/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/23/much-the-same-really-6574090/Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:35:04 +0200 <p>But that's a title for later.</p> <p>A spiffing weekend's sport. The golf has been enough discussed in the media, but it was the best Open I can remember. Any one of half a dozen could have won. Just one missed chip, just one three-putt. And perhaps it would have been just a little bit odd if Tom Watson had won at the age of 59, though nobody would have begrudged him. I felt sympathy for Cink, the eventual winner, who knew that nobody watching wanted him to win. And what a glorious golf course!</p> <p>While this was going on I had to keep going over to the Tour, because I wanted to see the climb up to Verbier. It's a road that I have driven up many times, always in winter. It is all steep hairpins, scarier to drive down than up in the snow and ice. And Contador made his move. Today they have to ride over the Grand St Bernard. There is a road tunnel well below the top to make it easier for motors, so it will be stiff for the bikes.</p> <p>And at the same time I was trying to pay attention to the cricket. But duty called, so I was able to cut the grass during some of the boring bits. Then when the Aussies started to look a bit menacing on Sunday, I remembered some urgent rose pruning.</p> <p>There was the odd moment when I felt a bit guilty about the dismissals which weren't, but then I remembered the old remark about "All's fair...". There's a lot of both love and war in the Ashes. And a fine old rule in golf about "the rub of the green", where it might be a lucky break, or even a bad break, but you just have to accept it. Doncha, you Aussies!</p> <p>So this morning England beat Australia at Lord's for the first time since my mother was pregnant with me. Which is rather a long time ago.</p> <p>And to round off the sports commentary, there were only five of us out this morning (most of the blokes have gone off to the Weald of Kent for a day and night away, which I didn't much fancy), so I was able to pick up another useful few quid.</p> <p>Helen is back from her epic solo trip to Cotignac in the whizzy little Mazda. She says that Frank (6'6" or so) folded himself into it, had a drive and thought it was fun, like a go-cart. And it's her birthday on Thursday. She would like a Lotus Elan as a present, but I haven't won the lottery recently. Sorry, Helen!</p> <p>I might have another day off tomorrow, to catch up on the garden and the housework. And the back office. Or not. Depends how I feel.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/20/all-s-fair-in-love-and-war-6552797/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://oldwoodiestale.blog.co.uk/2009/07/20/all-s-fair-in-love-and-war-6552797/Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:20:42 +0200