Review of week

Busy Monday at work - still looking at potential acquisition in Grantown, but had to tell MD today that he wasn't getting everything his own way.

Harry, Richard, Jas and I played doubles in the evening and we were joined by Archie for a beer in the golf club.

Been a bit of a reflective week - it was 5 years to the day that Mum died (Sunday) and 3 years to the day since our former chairman, Dr. Clark, died (Tuesday).

Jo came along to Bannatyne's on Tuesday for a swim (she forgot her trainers so couldn't go the gym) and we had a quick bite there before driving out to meet Gary at the house that he and Carole were making a bid for. It was a bijou cottage in a quiet location and they put in an offer in time for closing at noon on Wednesday, but, despite being the highest offer, they unfortunately didn't get it.

No sooner had Gary and Carole got the bad news (again) about their bid for a house failing than a text came through from Kelly saying that she and Craig had had success with their offer.

I had dinner on Tuesday evening at Maryculter House Hotel with our computer suppliers - nice place and the food was fine.

It was the pre-penultimate night of our season long Summer Quaich competition on Wednesday - the nights are noticeably drawing in now. It was also a club stableford and I played pretty well although I was slightly disappointed in my finish which meant I "only" scored 37 points when I thought 40 was on the cards.

Thursday brought the weekly drive up to Fraserburgh for the management meetings and I also took the opportunity to get my laptop software upgraded to Office 2007 - it's a bit different and takes some getting used to.

Jo came in to Bannatyne's again and this time we both spent some time in the gym and then the pool before going to Shepherd's Rest at Westhill for our tea. The place has expanded a bit since we were last there and it's all table service. They also now have 10 ales on and it was an interesting selection, including an old favourite of ours, McMullen's Country Best, which was our local brew many years ago when we used to live in Hertfordshire.

With the end of the golf season fast approaching, there's lots of outings on the agenda and on Friday afternoon eight of us headed for St Andrews Bay to play the Devlin course. It was a lovely afternoon on a terrific course with superb greens - and what's more, I played really well - particularly on the front nine. I started with a par, then had a birdie and then I hit the par 5 third green in two and just missed my eagle putt. I was one over par gross at the turn (23 points) and although I faded a bit on the back nine, I still won the outing overall, despite the disadvantage of having to pull a trolley as I still didn't have my Powacaddy fixed.

A couple of excellent beers in the Whey Pat, followed by a curry at the Balaka rounded off an excellent day.

Up on Saturday morning for the medal and it was a bit damp, but we managed round, although the magic of the midweek had deserted me a bit and I will now be playing off 12 tomorrow, having gone up 0.1 to 11.5.

I at least had the consolation of playing with my Powacaddy again, but still it wasn't right - one of the wheels was still locked and it was pulling wildly left and struggled to go up hills. I went straight in to see the assistant pro, Stuart after my round and he immediately knew what was wrong and instantly fixed it. It turned out that he hadn't been given a full briefing by David, our pro, on what had to be done. This is the 3rd time it's been in - hopefully it's now OK - I need it for tomorrow as I have 36 holes to play, weather permitting. It's the Claret Jug at Banchory in the morning and then the Rotary charity tournament at Inchmarlo in the afternoon.