Man Down; Breaking up is hard to do 🥲 food porn

Hey y'all (I have not heard the Irish variant),

Yes, we be in Ireland.  Okay, Ulster.   Or Northern Ireland to the non-natives.  

It's been two crazy days, so this will be a lot.   Just sayin'.

I guess I will go chronologically.  At least to start. 

We started by getting out of the house yesterday morning at 8:30.  It happened.  That's all I can say. 

Glasgow airport did not make dropoff easy.  There was a lane that said pickup and dropoff -- as I recall from the Car Talk Brothers, partners in a law firm in Boston 😂 -- but it led into the parking garage.  I went there anyway and we didn't see anything...so I went to the car rental place and we lugged.  I was driving the Mercedes SUV, the small car.  Db, in the VW van, missed a couple turns and was 10 minutes behind.  LOL.  (Db likes to go fast and likes to pass me if he gets the chance).

So, the other three with me leave me to check in the car and head for the terminal. I foolishly don't watch them.  I don't understand the young woman (K will love this -- I am now my mother 😂 ), but we get through check in and I head toward the terminal with my suitcase.  But the building and door in front me don't really look like an entrance.  I leave the bag on the sidewalk and go back and ask an Enterprise person where to go.  He tells me that it's to the left and...I turn around and my suitcase is rolling into the road, across the road, over the small runway and, finally, into a post.  Whew!  Like I was sprinting after it?  Luckily no one from this crowd was there, so they don't know. :)

We get inside.  The woman ahead of me in line has her passport out and I ask her if I'll need it (we were on Aer Lingus [insert inappropriate joke]) and she said you do for international flights. I said I wasn't going international and she said she was going to Dublin and got out of the way.  I get the desk and the woman immediately calls "Everyone clear for Belfast customers" and grumbles about waiting to the last minute.  It's 930 and we don't board till 1040.  I said "I thought we gave ourselves plenty of time."  I think it would accurately be called a snort of derision in response. :)

We were so early they hadn't listed our gate yet, and not for six minutes.  Everyone got food. (G-man eats like some constantly feeding beast, so we're all scared to not feed him for very long for fear he'll eat one of us :)).

Fly to Belfast.  KG and I, the two main designated drivers, and I paid for the cars, leave them at the luggage carousel to go grab the rental cars. 

You see, two weeks ago the itinerary changed.  If you can follow this.  KG's main objective on this trip was to play Royal County Down, which is an hour south of Belfast.  Portrush, where we are staying, is an hour north of Belfast.  But, despite my best efforts (I got up at 3 in the morning the day they opened for booking for this year last April), we didn't get a tee time.  We had both called to see if they had an opening.  He called two weeks ago and lo and behold they had the 1002 tee time on this Monday or Tuesday.  The course tomorrow is now in the Open Championship rota, so we found that then they could get 50% back if we cancelled.  But KG made sure about when our flight got in -- 1205 -- and called Portstewart and moved their tee time from today to yesterday evening -- their last tee time of the day.  🙌  All this means KG needed his car pronto.

They scooted and got to Portstewart not long after 2.  Plenty of time.  When we met them for dinner (the schedule had no dinner planned), they raved about the golf course.  I will shoot you this pic to start of one of the more amazing courses we've played, and there have been bangers on this trip. 

Here's the highlight of last night's meal:

KG had the nutella cheesecake, which he liked. 

B had the ravioli. 

The new place in Portrush is good.  Two pairs have to share rooms, but this time there are twin beds in teh room.  I'm with RR and Vlad and G-man are in the other.  Db and B grabbed the king en suites, as we got here first (as you might tell).

What were we doing while they went to Portstewart?  We saw Belfast.  !!!

We started at the Thirsty Goat, whose logo is pic worthy --

I actually bought the tee shirt.  As did others. 

The food was good, too. 

FYI: the waitress, whose name was Kathy, though she said she probably shouldn't give it to us :), made me out to be a trouble-maker from the start. 🤷 The others were in front of the wait to be seated sign, so I asked and she said "read the sign."  I'm sure she warmed to me by the end, though she did make me say "please" to get the wifi password. 😂

Then we came to conflicting interests and Db and B went pub crawling while RR and I jumped on the Hop On/hop off bus.  We also got to stroll through some of the busy and interesting bits of Belfast. 

We whipped by the Titanic museum (it was built here)

And spent a long time looking at the gates and walls from The Troubles.  (my phone was dead, so...)

When we met back at the car, there were stories about what the other two did, but I was driving and zoned out.  I think they had fun.  Db said he wanted to stay. 😂

Back at the house, there was NFL football: the Cowboys game was on.  G-man and Db are inveterate (I'm trying to get Vlad to build his vocab :)) Cowboy fans.  And B told a couple of his most famous jokes -- the fishing and dog joke, the kangaroo joke, the legendary monkey joke, and, finally, because he had to stand up for it -- the woman in the nursing home joke.  I said tonight he should have gotten a cut rate on the trip paid for the others because he was the live entertainment. 

And now to today.

I was not up when the Texans left for Royal County Down (RCD) for their 1002 tee time.  

The four OG's (get used to this, it's going to be just us for three days shortly) had an 1100 at Portstewart.  

We started with breakfast.  It was at a place called Dora's, which was identified on Google as a "tea room."  This worried Db :). It was only .4 mile from our house, as the crow flies.  Discussion on who cared how far it was for a crow. :) 

Although the Google said it was open, it wasn't, yet.  So we waited 7 minutes in the parking lot of it to open. 

But the food was awesome.  We're going back tomorrow.  And we didn't have their signature scones, though I took a picture for K, who loves scones:

It was all as amazing as it looks (and it's not going to be the best food of the blog). 

Off to the golf course that the Texans played yesterday.  I give you this pic, and will comment after --

This is today's photo of the four of us OG's.  Love the water (the River Bann) in the background.  That's B, me (more momentarily), Db, and RR.  Notice we are in short sleeves.  And the sun was shining!!!  We were ecstatic.  And the first holes on the course are just awe inspiring. :)

About the hat: this is my Arsenal bucket hat.  I have been a supporter since the early 00s after reading Nick Hornby's (you all know how big a fan I am) Fever Pitch.  John's caddie was a supporter, too, and we chatted about Saturday's loss and other material stuff.  But the thing is, my niece, Db's daughter, enjoyed my bucket hat on Saturday so much (K got one for me from GoreTex for 10 years ago) she made this graphic -- 

She claims she's now going to call me "Uncle Paddington" and is sure I'll be lost and not be home for at least three months. 😂

And now for the title story.  Our three caddies today were OG's.  Mine, Tim, has been retired 8 years.  They all needed electric trolleys to carry our clubs.  They were good guys, but not really in shape to drag around the hardest walking golf course I've walked in a long time.  Finally, Pat's started coming up lame.  He said he had some nerve syndrome that locked up his right foot and made his leg go numb.  He almost went down a couple of times, but insisted on going on.  RR told him he could quit and go in, but he insisted.  Then, RR topped/whiffed his tee ball about 30 yards left off the 18th tee and they walked over there while we hit our drives.  And around there is where we left Philip -- I need an appropriate emoji.

The went dead on him and he went down, although RR and Db both tried to grab him and hold him up.  I was up ahead, but we walked back.  Tim pulled his phone out of his bag and tried calling a couple numbers and got no answer. I don't know.  Db and I played on (with B, who hasn't had a caddie on the trip) and RR ended up pulling his clubs off the trolley and carrying them in.  I told Tim to go in and get someone and I'd walk my clubs in, but I couldn't get him to go till I was on the green. "You sure?" Ef yes I was sure!!! He's laying on the ground back there, maybe in pain, and you're worried about me shooting an effing 100?!?! It took me awhile after the round to get over how pissed I was about how little they cared for their colleague -- our golf game was more important. "Well, it's not an emergency," Tim said, "not like a heart attack."  Right.  I hope I have better friends. 

Went to Tesco (the grocery store) on the way home and I walked out the emergency exit :). Told the woman next to me I was going to tell them she did it.  She smiled.  

The Texans got back from RCD, we cleaned up and went to Amici Ristorante for dinner. 

I think it was my best meal of the trip so far.  (there are great pics extant of the sunset, but Db hasn't posted them yet ):). Maybe check his IG at noblegolfer76...

Here are the pics, which are serious, serious food porn.  I work backwards, as that is how the pics are arranged. 

My lemon curd cheesecake with merignue. 

RR's sticky toffee pudding

I don't know. 

B and KG had the mint aero cheesecake. 

G-man's tiramisu.  

RR had the cod special. 

DB chose poorly and got the pizza.

Vlad had the lasagna.

KG had the fish over risotta (I don't remember what it was)

And I had the spaghetti alfredo, which was pretty damned good, despite all the peas. :)

I am, for the nth night, the last one up.  It has been an awesome trip and I hate to see the Texans go Wednesday morning. 🥲

But tomorrow is the big final day.  RR has first place all but locked up (Z can only tie him, not win outright), but the race for 2nd and 3rd money has 5 people within 6 points.  I have a chance, if RR helps me enough (we lost the day we played together -- the worst day RR has had in 7 ):

I gotta go.  Prob tomorrow after, though dinner res are at 830, or Wednesday, maybe as the OG's are on the plane to Edinburgh.  

Good night all.   From some multi-named place. 

NB. the young woman at Dora's this morning wasn't sure she should take Db's Scottish bank notes. 😂  she was pointing out the difference to him -- she had some "Ulster" ones (her term) -- and said people really didn't trust the Scottish ones.  Though everyone took them, customers sometimes wouldn't take them as change.  Funny, that. :)

Which One is Better?

 [Ed. note: I did not come to Scotland to blog.  Sorry.]

The trip organizer has seemed to have done a pretty good job -- all 8 here seem to be thinking they are having the time of their lives.  For those of you not familiar, golf is rather addictive, and what we've been through the last 3 days has not been for the faint of heart.  

Here is today on the 12th hole. I really hope you canna see where it goes :)

I thought I had a decent day today, but my score didn't reflect it. 

But the point of the video is the conditions: and that was GOOD part of the weather!!!!  As Db says on the video (he's the only one taking them, to share, anyway), it's Dundonald #12.  

Each of the last three days for several holes we have been pissed on sideways, to the point of stinging like sleet.  Heck, it might have been sleet! 

But we've all agreed we don't much care -- the golf courses have been incredible! The west coast of Scotland be praised, and we didn't play a couple biggies (some later).  

I will try to keep the "golf shop talk" down to a minimum, but yesterday we played Prestwick, which was the home of the first 12? (don't quote me) British Opens.  Back then it only had 12 holes.  They haven't been back since the 1930s -- there's some question as the to the conformity of the "new" (you know, a hundred yearrs) holes.  

There was voiced trepidation among the group about whether this was going to be a dud.  Prestwick is famous for its gimmicks -- the par 3 4th hole is a blind shot, hit over a dune with boards holding it up and some boards painted a certain color.  The color indicates where the pin is each day.  RR, without knowing it at the time, almost made a hole in one there.  :). Blind is his best game. :). The 17th hole plays to a wide-enough fairway and then are confronted with another dune and behind it is the largest bunker on the course (60 feet wide, 40 feet deep) guarding the green.  Amazingly, none of us were in it. 

To us, the memorable part were some of the new holes along the seaside ridge where we suddenly encountered a driving rainstorm.   How bad was it, you ask?  I had on a short-sleeve rain slicker and in no time my sleeves were wet.  I got out my long-sleeve slicker, and rather than getting drenched switching, I put it on over the other. :) But the wind was blowing it straight out so I had trouble getting my hands in it and my caddie, Jim, had to help me get it on.  Sheesh!!!!

That only lasted a few shots.  Then we got a wee bit more later.  But ended in the dry. 

My caddies are a highlight.  Jim, who claimed to have been caddying for 52 years, was from Ayr, which is the largest city on this coast and just south from Prestwick (Troon, where we are staying, is north).  I could barely understand him (this is a theme) and he walked with one stiff leg.  He didn't carry my bag, but had it on a trolley (Am: pull cart).  He wasn't a chatter, but a restricted teacher.  "Ya gotta go through the ball, Stevie, you are stoppin."  At one point I told him I was trying to hit a punch shot and he said, "that's nae good, Stevie, no power if you don't go through it."  I missed it, but he was giving Vlad tips throughout the round (you know, the guy who WASN'T paying him!) The one thing he did do was confirm that the Red Lion, a pub practically across the street, was the historical place to go.

So that is where we ate.  It was decent pub food. Here's the highlight, the steak pie --

Everyone loved the course; some were saying it was like 2nd on the list (everyone seems to be keeping a list, but Royal Dornoch and Royal Troon [the Royals know something] seem to be 1-2 on most everyone's list. 

B and Z beat KG and RR in euchre and there was a lot of going to bed early.  We had an "early" tee time -- not the first of the day it turned out, but close.  KG and I sat up for a short while have a face-to-face for the first time since February (see blog).  K said she'd like to be a fly on the wall and I texted back "you ask too many questions."  Even she thought that was funny. :)

So today was an 850 tee time and we left the house almost promptly at 730.  We stopped on the way at Gregg, which is a fast food bakery.  I had the bacon and omelette roll, forgetting that bacon here isn't our bacon. ):  Many sausage rolls (a whole different culinary adventure) were eaten. 

My caddie today was shy.  He came up to me on the practice putting green (as I write this, I see how ironic it is given the way I putted today) and asked if "we" were the 850.  He ended up carrying my bag to the first tee and caddying for me. 

Gary was a slender guy probably in his early 30s.  He's solo, which he must have said six times during the round. He's also the caddiemaster here, but was looping on his day off "to stay in shape."  (I'm sure the £170 he pulled off my group didn't hurt, either :).  When he said his name, I had to have him repeat (a la Robert two days before) because all I heard was garble.  He then fired off one of his better one liners of the day, which he repeated at least four times, "we're still learning how to speak English here in Scotland." :)

I know about Gary's broken relationship with a French girl who he spent 6 years in France with. I know Gary has been to America lots of time, sometimes for extended periods.  I know his favorite NFL team is the Cowboys.  I know he likes Thanksgiving and particularly pumpkin pie.  He gave no instruction. :) WTF :)

If you don't get it, Gary talked. A LOT.  The word incessantly is appropriate here. :). But he was a good guy, kind of funny, and helpful as he could be.  At the fifth green, after today's sleet-in-your-face storm, he trotted off the clubhouse and got us all towels to dry off.  I can't imagine how wet those were at by the time we finished.  

He also got us reservations at the best Indian place in town.  It was the bomb.  I think the dish G-man and RR (competitive eaters, both) got -- the mixed grill. 

The food was excellent.  

Db was sitting on the end of the table, next to a two-top pinned against the wall. And I used the word "pinned" to make a point.  

They were a local couple.  He worked for local government.  When we sat down we said "we're sorry for what you are about to witness ahead of time" and she said "I'm broad minded."  I said "I hope you have a broad vocabulary."  I think the F-bomb flew just once in their hearing...which should be seen as a win. 

After much "banter," (words leave me how to describe Db's constant talking to them) I leaned over and said "you really don't get out much" and he repeated it to them.  The guy says, quick as a wink, "that's probably best for society."  It killed us all, including Db. 😂😂😂 

And now we're packing for Northern Ireland.  We are staying close to the Bushmill's distillery, which seems like a poor decision on the travel arranger's part, but there it is.  

The Texans are jumping in a car as quickly as they can and heading to Portrush for a round (from Belfast, how's your NI geography?), while the olds visit the Belfast sites and try to not be the victims of firing bombing.  Hey!  It happened in the spring....🤷

As to the question of the title, there was some discussion, I think I started it on purpose, about it for dinner.  It was agreed if Dundonald today was the worst course of the 8 we play together, it's going to be the most awesome trip.  And I really, liked Dundonald; Db and I agreed it reminded us of West Lancs, though it had the improvement I didn't get locked in the dark in the bathroom for an hour. :)

If your talking best courses, we visited another candidate after pints this afternoon.  It was a long drive (40 minutes) from Dundonald to Turnberry, but we thought it was worth it.  The rock (Ailsa; which I didn't get a picture of) is spectacular and so is the hotel there. 

ICYMI that' s RR, who is now affectionately, or not, 😂 known as Patches.  Please don't ask me to explain it (it comes from his first name).  In the car yesterday, B kept asking him if he knew the song Patches O'Houlihan and he said no, so B played it on his phone.  A real weiner of a song. ):

Anyway, "Patches" (I know people hate it when I change names in mid-blog series, but who knew when we started?) is leading our tournament.  He won again today.  In 6 days he's won at least 4 times.  I have finished last 4 times.  The grumbling among the lower handicappers in the group has been kinda funny.  But Patches keeps pointing out they made and the rules and the fact he's playing almost to his handicap when no one else has isn't his fault. :).  I will keep you informed as we progress -- the 7th round is Monday and Tuesday (we split up...I'll explain in next blog) and the last round is seeded.  It seems likely Patches and I will play as a team and we'll see if he pulls me up or I pull him down.  

And, for travel agent news: I thought I had bought every sporting equipment and a checked bag for tomorrow's flight from Glasgow to Belfast.  Turns out I got the sporting equipment, but not the checked bag!!!  Everyone has a bag that needs checked.  I think it'll be okay, but helping B, who is about one step from a Luddite (the Texans are still amazed he doesn't have an ATM card; it's been source of much ribbing), and figuring out whether Patches is coming with us (I spelled his first name wrong when I booked online and Aer Lingus said all they could do was cancel him and book him separately.  Geez, why? so he has a separate six-digit code.  I found it in a text from AL and we're good now. Except he doesn't have a checked bag, OC.  

The headaches of the travel arranger. 

And on that note I bid you slan!

It's Nae Wind, Lad!

 Hi everyone,

Today we had a day.   OC, you might have noticed that we think we've had a shit ton of days.  :). I will start with today and, if I had the time and energy, will follow up with yesterday (don't count on it, Db :)).

[Ed. note: there was discussion yesterday about the length of the last blog. 😂  Db conceded a) he laughed about him not reading, b) he really didn't read it all in one setting 😂   And RR admitted he had to have two sittings for it, too. 😂   It was like being back in the classroom 😂 ]

We are now in Troon.  To help you who are Scottish geography challenged, it is on the southwest coast, on the Firth (Db's favorite word...well, his favorite British word is NSFW, so...) of Clyde, an hour southwest of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland.  It is a seaside vacation town.  

Our Vrbo (I switched apps because, believe it or not, the place was on Airbnb AND Vrbo but less on Vrbo 🤷) is on the seafront and our host claimed yesterday during the walk through that you could see the first tee of the course we played today from the upstairs front bedroom windows.  Maybe.  But we're close.  It's a fabulous place and I'll share a couple of the better pictures later. 

We played Royal Troon today.  They have hosted like 10 British Opens, going back to 1923, and they have a replica of the Claret Jug (the famous trophy for winning the Open) in the foyer -- which is quite grand. 

But their dining room wasn't open until 830 and we were there at 745 for our 910 tee times.  Hazel, the pro shop desk person, told us to go next door to the hotel.  I asked the shortest route and she sent us down a path through a gate in a brick wall on to their back terrace.  The hotel, The Marine, is owned by the Mannings.  Bought 5 years ago.  Breakfast was Continental and you got a hot dish if you wanted.  Pictures of the pancakes below.

You kinda need/want to know that the wind was howling when we got here around 6 last evening, blew through the night (in my room it sounded like Kansas in Wizard of Oz :)) and blew when we got up and made the 2 minute drive to the course.  We all talked about how many layers -- RR wore 6!   (He also had the best day golfing, relatively speaking, so it might be something).  I wore two, then my cashmere and was fine till we walked out of the clubhouse onto the putting green and the seaside was even fiercer.  I put my rain slicker on and that was good for the day.  We were all aware it might rain, too. 

The course does the classic links thing of running six holes away from the clubhouse.  In this case, with a 30 mph wind off the sea to our right.  I knew from the get-go it was no slouch -- there was no "handshake" opener.  ):  

At seven we turned inland -- one of the only 2 holes downwind all day.  Then we turned back at into the wind for the most famous hole -- the par 3 postage stamp.  It looked big today but it was way too hard!!! 😡.   We took a picture with it in the background --

I don't have a picture that depicts the wind.  It was the worst wind any of us had every played in, and our caddies all said it was the wind of the season.  When we turned back toward the clubhouse at 13, the wind was off the left and you couldn't keep the ball on the fairway!!!  G-man claimed he had one shot go 100 yards from left to right.  

The last 6 holes are the longest end stretch in the Open rotation.  My caddie told me this wasn't the prevailing wind -- it normally came straight from the clubhouse in your face. 

Now, today's caddie.  His name was...err, err.   He was from Prestwick, the next town down the coast, and I kept trying to repeat his name and call him "Grummond."  Whatever the F kind of name that would be. 🤷 In the end, he had to spell it for me:  R-o-b-e-r-t.  B, who was my partner today, agreed he was hard to understand.  

We got on famously.  62 and he's been caddying 50 years.  He was full of wisdom like "your health is your wealth, Steve" and "enjoy the day, you're on vacation."  We had a modestly lengthy discussion of the positives of an illegal substance here, which said wasn't hard to obtain (wink wink) and drinking, and another on Amsterdam, which made him pretty rapturous.  my having said that was our last stop on this trip.  I heard bits about it, too. :).  I liked him a lot obviously because he thought my ordinary quips were funny and he was good at caddying.  The other group had a terrible caddying experience.  ):

For my English professor friends, Vlad's caddy (I played with him and Db) told him that the course was like a reverse Dante's Inferno: you start the first 6 holes in heaven, the second is ok, and the last 6 is hell.  The analogy worked for us all today.  :)

Robert also helped out for tomorrow night by recommending his local pub, the Red Lion, in Prestwick for dinner.  Originally, Db had a reservation at the place we ate tonight (we didn't communicate our choices with each other), so he was looking for an alternative. Db loves pub grub and we haven't really done that yet.  So lucky him.  It is a short walk from Prestwick clubhouse, where we play tomorrow at 1110, so pub food around 5 will be perfect. 

We had early reservations so only had a few (or 5) drinks before leaving.  Before you get all mom on us, I drove home and to the restaurant and back, having zero drinks. 

Db and I have a bet going on who is in the fewest traps for the week.  We started today 23-8 (if not quite right, he'll correct me) and he hit a shot into one on the second hole (?) and took 3 to get out. :) (not to be mean, but he'll be okay with that).  I was in only one for day coming to 16.  I hit what I thought was a pretty good shot, left of the big mouth of a bunker in the middle of my line to the pin.  As we walked up, Robert said "I think it may have gone into the bunker."  I couldn't see it from where we were! ):  But we walk up and get to where we could see the bunker and there was a ball just outside of it.  Robert and I were happy and then B stepped over and said 'that's mine, there's one in the bunker."  F***! to quote RR. 

I had to play out sideways and did so.  But was behind the next bunker.  I had to play my "Scottish wedge", which has "Heekle" printed on it (longish story.  FYI, Robert kept called it "Heckle" 😂😂😂

I dumped the Heekle shot into the bunker 10 yards in front of me and proceeded to take 3 to get out. 😡😡😡
I then hit what I thought was a good shot on the next hole, just skirting the mouth on the right side, only to find there was another bunker behind it.  Repeat orange faced emoji.   It was like a 5 foot lip and I almost got the first one out, hitting less than an inch from the top, letting me try again.  The next one I hit to like 5' but missed yet another putt.  Orange face.   In the end, I won the day 15-7, but it could've been worse. 

There was a quick turnaround for dinner.  It was on the water.  Like this:

The pictures turned up in reverse order:

RR and I had the Belgian chocolate bomb.

The is Z's creme brulee.

This is the rhubarb and ginger cheesecake which multiple people had. 

A couple people had the ravioli entry. 

They had two fish dishes, one a special, with different sauces.  I don't know which was which. 

I had the one they all ended up envying: the ribeye burger.  It came with a small skillet of cheese fondue which the waiter poured over it, rendering oooo's and ahhh's and "we wish we'd videod that."  The fondue was to die for and the ribeye was A1. 

KG picked the restaurant and started us with a couple of these bad boys: lobster, yes, lobster cocktail. 

It was a very happy and fun dinner, with great food, at least mediocre service (till we wanted the bill, which RR had to go ask for ):).  There was a lot of jocularity at B's expense, a change from at least a day at Vlad's expense (he was 20 minutes late coming down to leave the Airbnb for fishing y'day morning). 

For dessert I moved next to RR (Db had wandered off, maybe to the bathroom) and after one exchange of wisdom he said "that's so wise."  I said "you gonna use it?"  "Heck no. " :)

We came back and played euchre.  RR and B lost again to KG and I in 2 games and RR again slammed his cards on the table and left. :).  We then beat the two brothers 2 straight.  Cards tell.

They are playing Texas hold 'em now with electrical clips as chips. :)

****

Quickly.  Db is long faded :)

The 4 OG's went to the Ness Farm to feed Highland coos.  Yes, that's the way it is spelled on the signs.  Here's my combo pick of said coo and a sheep:

Meanwhile, the young uns were fishing.  Here's the requisite picture, of Vlad with the only one they caught all day.  Their guide and they were frustrated, but they had a good time. 

Last night's dinner just missed the cut. 

Here's a picture of this morning's delicious pancakes.  G-man had 3 breakfasts, including these, which he later deemed as "not a breakfast; did you see how tiny those pancakes were." 

And now a couple house pics.

The garden.

yl

The formal dining room. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be as windy, but only certainly with rain.  It rained awhile today, to the point it felt like sleet. ):

On that happy note, adieu. 

On being Old and [fill in the blank]

 Oy, lasses and laddies (dialect will be a thing in about 2000 words 😂 -- Db groans and says to himself "am I going to commit to reading it all?"),

Today was Cabot Highlands day.  Already we are satiated with good golf, so, after the brilliance of Royal Dornoch we wondered what we were about to get.

Here's one good pic, taken from the men's changing room -- 

Which is a segueway into today's story #1.

At RD, you saw the new clubhouse in the last blog.  They had a men's changing room.  It was very, very nice. Today's was comparable.  When we got there, I went through the changing room and saw that they had lockers, so asked and they gave me a "key" (a plastic card like you use to get into a hotel room) and I put my change of shoes and glasses (I wear contacts only to play golf; so far, FYI, the dry eye has not been bad :)).  And I put the card into the pocket for a wallet at the top of my bag. 

We finish the round, as you remember, in the gloaming, and I want to change to go to dinner (and my readers for when I have my contacts are in the locker, too).  I dig in the pocket.  It's not there!!! I try every pocket and can't find it.  I was about to go see if they could help me when I pulled my wallet and money clip out of my pocket (was I looking for cash to pay someone?) and, lo and behold! it was stuck in my money clip!!! 🎉🥳  (that I might have put it on the money clip has occured to me, but I have no such memory).

Ok.  Today, Cabot Highlands, they have lockers.  This time with keys.  I take one (number 20) and purposefully put the key deep into the wallet pocket.

We finished soaking wet, and you can tell (if you understand logistics) that some of Db's Instagram pics are mine (or maybe not) -- I had the phone out to take a couple pictures.  Or my caddie Colin did. After all the shuffling, taking off two layers of wet gear, digging out my money clip to pay Colin (caddies here, if not everywhere, get paid in cash -- a bit of an issue, but that's another story) and my phone.  Finally, I said to meself, it's time to go change, get my contacts out, and change out of my wet shoes. 

The key wasn't there!!!  I know I let out an RR style "F***!"  The greeter stepped over and asked if he could of help and I told him.  His name was Donnie and he is a former policeman.  Looks the part.   Donnie says, "Do ya mind if I have a look?"  I'm okay with that; I'm an inept old man.  As he goes to do so, he says, go into the pro shop and tell them Donnie said to give you the master key.

I go in and say to the two at the desk that I need help and say "Donnie told me to ask you please can I have the master key because I've lost mine."  The guy behind the counter says, "No, I don't think so."  Pause.  "But I've got this one."  He holds up a set of keys with a "20" tag on them!!!!!  "How?" "We're magic.  It's what we do here."  😂   They told me someone had turned it in at the halfway house (meaning I'd dropped it on the front 9).  Later, I came back and talked to one of the guys and he said "it happens all the time."  Really?  They find it.  "Oh, that almost never happens." 😱

The first point about the course is the Cabot experience.  We have now encountered this at both Bandon Dunes in 2022 and last year at Cabot Cape Breton -- both owned in part or whole by the same guy.  They do everything they can to make you comfortable.  They try not to make the clubhouse too big an issue (though it kinda is here), they give quality service, obviously great golf, and at a less than premium price.  And good food reasonably priced.  We ate both meals yesterday there. I will not repeat what one of the group said about what they buffed once you got on property :)

We played the older course, then the Texans slogged through a late afternoon round on Old Petty, their new course that is only open this year.  They wanted to see it, since it was designed by Tom Doak, maybe the premier living golf architect.  The old course is misnomered "Castle Stuart," although you only see the castle once (you play around it on Old Petty). 

For those of us anxious about the golf course, the first three holes rocked.  The picture above shows some of them -- along the coast (back to the Moray Firth), with the sea to your right on every hole.  On three, a short par 4, it actually played to a narrow peninsula. Banger start :)

There were some really good holes and some that leaned on you.  The 4th turned straight up hill inland, then you came back to the sea parallel to the first three for the finish.  Then you played the other way from the clubhouse -- with the water on the left.  After 12, there was a woman with a cart to drive the lamer golfers up the hill.  Colin said to me, "I hope you don't mind, but we've got a cart to take you up.  It's a climb.  Like 400 steps." Humourously, Maggie, the driver, got three of us on the cart, with two standing on the back (which no course in the US would do because of liability), and the cart did a couple wheelies going up the hill!!!  She apologized but...

Those next 3 holes were okay, but then you get back to the sea view on your right, coming in.  

This is where I tell you about the hell of Scottish golf.  It poured buckets overnight, up until our 10 o'clock tee time.  Colin said his dogs wouldn't even go out. 

But we got lucky again and didn't have rain until the back side.  It sprinkled, stopped.  Sprinkled, stop.  I had my short sleeve rain slicker on, then off.  On, then off.  On like 14 my sleeves were beginning to drip and I got wet changing into my long sleeve slicker.  And kept it on for the rest of the day because it opened up on 16 or 17.  17 is a par 3, into the wind, I think they said it was 230 yards from the white tees.  Db and I lamented hitting driver and not getting.  I didn't have my umbrella up or my rain pants on or my waterproof bucket hat on.  I was soaked when we finished.  Some were wearing their pants all day, or put them on when it got heavy.  But we all had to come home and dry stuff, including golf equipment out.  One of the caddies, I think it was Z's, named Torquil, "call me T," told us we didn't come to Scotland to not get the full Scottish golf experience.  FYI, yes, it was raining sideways, which we discussed was why we didn't get our 'brellies out.  Except B did and reported he probably ruined his when it popped inside out at least once. :)

I have to tell a bit about Colin, who will be prominent in the final story.  He was a retired truck driver from Glasgow.  He was a wee man and might have been my age (advanced).  He was in good shape; he doubled bagged for KG and I.  (The caddying situation was much discussed in postgame analysis).  It was conceded there'd been mistakes made setting up the caddies -- we shouldn't have double bagged.  We play different tees and we played from opposite sides of the fairway all day -- KG pointed out on like 15 that we were finally together after our tee shots for the first time. ):

Colin was a Glaswegian. If you don't know, the accent is famous for being strong.  Barry, the South African, was far more understandable.  I don't know how many times i had to have Colin repeat something because all I heard was mah dah i bah ee reet un blah blah blah.  So it goes right you say?  He was a good chap, working his ass off, the other foursome was behind us and they commented several times on the fact he was actually running (we were warned at least twice that we were behind pace).  There were a lot of times KG and/or I waited for Colin to cross the fairway to get a shot off. 

I will pause here for food porn. 

Here are the breakfast pictures:

RR, who loves salmon, got the avocado toast with salmon.

I think I'm Scottish now, though I couldn't understand Colin :), so I had porridge.

This is their breakfast sammy. 

Then for dinner:

After the round, B had this for lunch/dinner.  The logo in the bun is a thing. :)

Their croque monsieur (it's been on almost every menu), but this has haggis instead of ham.  Ponder that, if you will. 

G-man's (obviously) salmon over noodles. 

My club sandwich.

And everyone had this -- which was scrumptious. 

And now for a bit of talk for Sean, in the hopes Db doesn't read this far. :)

Db and I are now on our 4th trip to the British Isles to play golf.  We've always rented a car, and for the first trip, to St. Andrews, I did all the driving.  4 years ago in Ireland there were 7 of us, so we had two cars. 2 years ago it was just he and I golfing, so we had one small SUV for the part of the trip we were golfing and we shared driving duties -- he drives TO the course, and I drive BACK. 

Yesterday morning we are going to Cabot and we get in the van (we can all fit, with clubs! into the 7-passenger van) and I say I know where we are going and he doesn't need "the Google."  He grumbles, but says okay.  We get on the A9 (he now has it down that the opening left hand turn is into the nearest lane, instead of the first night when he tried to go across to the other and side and we all screamed at him :)).  A ways up the highway he says "are you going to tell me where to go?"  I said "we go up to the roundabout for the A96 to Aberdeen"...

Moments later the sign pops for the A96 and it's a turn and the turn lane is full of traffic.  He has to dive across traffic to get there (we would have had to go a ways to turn around).  He cusses, drives, and says "that's why I wanted to put in the GPS."  Okay, fair enough. 

Coming back the first time, I'm driving.  Here's the tab from Cabot (they keep one going the whole time you're there and you settle up); it only shows 15 pints, which everyone said was WAY low (there were 8 just for the post-round first beers), but many were consumed.  He conceded easily that I should drive.

I was lost going out.  But there was only one way in and one way out.  I stopped at one point because there was a gate in the way.  We hadn't stopped for a gate coming in. ???  "It was open."  "oh."  I recognized none of the road out the the A96. I don't know why.  🤷 

We get to the intersection with A96 and there are two lanes (and a turn-in curve that we came in).  He says, "You're in the wrong lane."  "No I'm not."  "Really f***ing are."  "No."  "That other lane is the turn lane." I did what I did, got on the A96.  We went back and forth and finally he just gave up and said "you're right" in that tone every married person knows. :) We sat silently for a bit and he says, "Yeah, you were right.  That lane was for people coming from our left to turn in."  :)

So, we get to the roundabout where the A96 meets the A9 and I'm not far enough left to do the immediate dive left I had to do and go around the circle.  There's a stop light.  "You need to be left."  "I'm okay."  "No, get left," and the light changes and I don't dive left and he says, "You're going to miss our turn" and I say "I want to go to Perth" and point to the sign and he gets quiet.  "My bad."  😂.  Pause.  "That would have been bad; it's a long way till you can turn around" (it was the road we'd just been on) -- "I got confused and just remembered A96."   

Note two things: I did tell a couple bits to my benefit (it IS MY blog :)), and he and I bicker like we're an old couple.  It gives us both joy. :)

I finish with this.  It's heather (if you didn't know or the picture isn't good enough).  It's still got a bit of purple to it there at Cabot, but was much brighter and fulsome at Dornoch.  It's the closest I've been to it. 

Wednesday is a travel day.  The Texans are trout fishing.  The OG's are going to the petting zoo and...well, to be determined.  

Hope you enjoyed.  Gun a-maireach.