Royal Aberdeen

What a wonderful day we had at Royal Aberdeen - it's very rare to get a benign sunny day at Balgownie, where the wind usually always howls, but we got it today. The course was great and the Seniors matches are fun - it's a friendly 4 ball, better ball format - if anyone knows what that means (like the Ryder Cup was on Friday and Saturday afternoons). My partner and I actually won our match against our hosts' Captain and his partner - but we were the only Banchory winners - the result was 9-1 to Royal Aberdeen!

Rowies and coffee before the match and a fine 2 course meal after the match, plus a round on the hallowed links - all for £10! Of course, being Royal Aberdeen, jackets and ties were required for the meal, so here I am in mine afterwards, with Aberdeen Ladies' clubhouse in the background:

When digging through some of the stuff in my Dad's flat, I came across Grannie Stewart's travel card from 1984, when she must have been a similar age to what Dad is now. Most of you wouldn't have known her, but here's what she looked like:

The other side of the family (my Mum's mother, Granny Barr) also photographed well:

I'm afraid to say this was a fairly typical view of her. My memories of my years at Foxbar Drive (1960 - 1972) were of her constant warring with my Dad. I guess the old mother-in-law syndrome applied in spades when we were all living in such close proximity under her roof. In her latter years, she was virtually confined to her room and only came down when my Dad wasn't around. Sad really, but there you go.