Goff

Des, Ian, Tom, my father and I played goff this weekend. It's an ancient Scottish ritual that involves strolling around manicured laws, hitting a plastic object in several directions with the intention of losing it down a hole. It is supposed to be a social sport, but the way we all hit our balls to the four points of the compass, you would think we were trying to avoid each other due to some family feud or other. Still, the weather was nice.

The Edmonton Highlands goff course is a very pleasant place to take a stroll. Lush green fairways, pretty trees and tidy bunkers all added to the occasion.

I seemed to take a liking to the trees. I have a bit of a reputation for being a tree hugger, but this doesn't help with trying to keep the numbers low on the card. The staff at the course were very helpful and courteous to us. I would recommend this as a place for anyone interested in goff to play a round.

After the first game on Saturday Ian kindly invited me back to his house to visit Jayne and their two children, Jamie and Lauren, over at their house in St Albert, a town just outside Edmonton.

Jayne and Ian seem to have hit the sweet spot as far as being migrants into Canada. They are both young, professionally qualified and have a young family too. ALl the things you would imagine a fledgling nation like Canada desires. Good luck to them, they seem very suited to this place.

They live in a lovely house, on a cul-de-sac, and treated me to dinner and several beers. Ian and I reminisced about our Army days (sorry Jayne, I'm sure you've heard it all before). For those that don't know, it was Jayne and Ian who brought Lois and I together in 1990 at the Worthing hockey festival. I am not sure if it was deliberate match making on their part, but, if it was, it was a stroke of genius and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for the ensuing 19 years that I spent with Lois.

Gluttons for punishment, Tom, Des, Dad and I went for another game of goff today. I blew hot and cold, but managed to come in with some good matchplay scores and helped win the day. Quite satisfying really considering I haven't played for a couple of years.

Footnote on the weather. Yesterday and today have been pleasant, spring like, days here in Edmonton. This evening though, the temperature dropped like a stone, and we are faced with 2 x days of arctic like conditions, around 0 degrees celsius, and snow forecast. It is May isn't it?