FROM A WISE GUY*

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Oscar Wilde said "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."

OK, that's enough wisdom. Let's get to the important stuff.

I played 9 holes of golf today -the first for a week or more. When I got to the golf course the manager asked if I had phoned in for a reservation since COVID-19 Level Three rules require it. I told him that I hadn't and held up my phone and asked him if he wanted me to ring him. He laughed and said that he'd make an exception and signed me in.

It's a fankle having to book a tee time as I usually like to just turn upon a whim depending on the weather or what I'm doing at the time. I don't like being tied down to schedules. I've always been like this.

Anyway, I played some good shots including an outstanding 3-iron shot as my second to the second green. It landed on the green and rolled to the back. Beauty!

Another wise guy (not a wiseguy) recently wrote this:

Empathy & Reason.

These are two words that we really need to work on understanding at the moment. Over the past few days I've seen quite a few unrelated incidents where at least one of these words was missing.

Let's look at their meanings.

Empathy: (noun) The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

Reason: (noun) Having sound judgement, based on logical thinking.

Yes, yes, anyone can claim to be exhibiting these two qualities. Maybe this is where one must use common sense and honesty.

Okay, you want some examples.

Okay, The restrictions put on us in this pandemic are IN NO WAY similar to what happened in the holocaust. Just as needing to have a licence to drive a motorcar or needing to be registered to practise as a medical doctor are in no way encroaching on your rights or liberties. The idea is to try and make things safer for everyone. This is using that word REASON.

If you are my brother-in-law and you ring just as my wife and I are sitting down to dinner and you are aware of the fact but rave on talk on for about thirty minutes or longer about yourself, you are not showing EMPATHY - though admittedly on a pretty low level.

If you inform people that they are going to a place called Hell because they won't follow your god who made Hell, because they have a sexual orientation that your god supposedly doesn't approve of, or because of some other 'sin' that bothers you, don't spend too much time worrying about your levels of empathy or your ability to reason because you are just a fucking idiot."

- Richard's Bass Bag

 

It's a bit long winded but he is a trumpet player and a schoolteacher so - there you go.

He wrote this as a response to a post that The Curmudgeon wrote referencing the Holocaust and the comment that Robert made to that post. You can find it HERE

How's your day going (not Robert because he doesn't like to be asked that)?

* Not a wiseguy 

 I felt bad about not posting today so looked through The Curmudgeon's posts and copied this one for you.

Enjoy!

BORED? THREE

Yes, I know - I said that I wouldn't do another 'Bored?' golf post but I thought you might like to know that I played golf again today.

The Old Girl suggested that I go.

"Why don't you go out and play with your new toys?" she asked today, obviously wanting to get me out of the house for a while because she had a couple of conference calls scheduled.

I took the hint and headed out after lunch.

The new clubs performed really well and I hit some great tee and fairway shots. I hit them so well though that I lost 3 balls - on the fairway. My usual shots had a tendency to slice so I'm used to looking to the right of the fairway to see where the balls go. These new clubs hit the ball straighter and slightly to the left (because I aim there) so I wasn't following the flight path properly. Three times in the first four holes my tee shot disappeared. The balls took off well but when I looked for them on the fairway they were nowhere to be seen - obviously suckered. My follow-up shots were good though and I enjoyed trying out the various clubs.



The irons hit the ball true and I was confident with the putter but ......THREE BALLS DOWN!

On the last hole I played, my favourite the par 4 that runs alongside the creek I spied three balls in the water. I quickly went down and, with my trusty ball retriever* fished them out. EVEN. I was happy.

But wait! There's more.

As I went down to the creek I was attacked by an aggressive pukeko.



This little bastard kept having a go at me and I had to chase him off several times. He would wait until my back was turned and then fly up at me. I had to extend the ball retriever and wave it about like a light sabre to get him away. I know that there must have been a nest nearby that he was protecting but ...... three golf balls! I knew what was my priority.












* The trusty ball retriever.

NO GOLF TODAY - MIST AND RAIN

 

Sorry folks but it's a bit rainy and overcast.

The sun is trying to break through though so maybe this afternoon I'll get a few holes in.

Stay posted!

GOLF IS RAINED OFF

 

NO GOLF TODAY DUE TO TORRENTIAL RAIN

THANKS TIGER

HOLD THAT TIGER - MILLS BROTHERS




I played 9 holes of golf yesterday afternoon.
Level - 3 allows golfing subject to a lot of rules.

You have to ring first for a tee time. These are staggered to allow distancing.
You have to play within your 'bubble'. This was easy as it was just me.
You have to check in with the club manager who ascertains that you are feeling well, that you have come directly from home and that you are going directly home afterwards.
Name and detail is recorded in a register along with check out time.



I've got no problem with this as the whole concept of lockdown is the ability to 'track and trace' contacts if there is a transfer of infection.


The manager leaves at 4PM and so checking in is all supposed to happen before this time. If golfing is to continue after this time the manager puts down an ascertained time of departure. This information is posted on the golf club's website.


I was pissed off to see, as I was playing my eighth hole, a couple of groups of guys arriving, after the manager had left and who set off to play in two lots of four. These idiots deliberately waited until after 4 PM so that they could play together (unlikely to be in their own bubbles) without having to go by the rules. This attitude annoys me. I'm not the greatest follower of laws and rules but I do understand these lockdown rules and why they are in place. These idiots obviously don't, just like the morons who rush to queue to buy hamburgers.


Anyway, back to Tiger.


I've been playing my Play Station game 2005 Tiger Woods PGA golf over the last couple of weeks and I believe that it has really helped my golf. It doesn't help the mechanics of the swing obviously but it does assist in my approach to each hole, club selection, use of spin and the general way I play. As a result I played some of the best golf ever (for me) with birdying two par 5s that I've had difficult with before and just missing an eagle by inches on a par 4.


I also played some of the worst golf ever on some of the other holes though. I lost 4 golf balls not by hitting them into creeks, lagoons, bushes or the sea but losing them on the fairway. The autumn leaves are covering a lot of the rough and the fairways due, I guess, to the fact that there aren't staff to clear them. When the golf ball runs under these it's difficult to find.


Because of the structured tee times and the fact that everyone hurries along I wasn't able to spend too much time looking for the lost balls. I also didn't have time to go down into the creeks fossicking for other lost balls. Bummer. This course now 'owes me' 4 golf balls.


I told the Old Girl this when I got home and she wasn't sympathetic!


"What do you mean the course owes you 4 balls" she said. "You've found hundreds of balls at that course".


She just doesn't understand.

GET (UN)KNOTTED

I played tennis this morning but gave up after an hour because my back was sore and I had difficulty turning my head. The problem is a kind of knot in my upper right back just below the shoulder. I looked it up on-line and found this:

Muscle knot treatment

Rest. Allow your body to rest if you have muscle knots.
Stretch. Gentle stretching that elongates your muscles can help you to release tension in your body.
Exercise. Aerobic exercise may help to relieve muscle knots.
Hot and cold therapy.
Use a muscle rub.
Trigger point pressure release.
Physical therapy.
Well, I'm not resting any more than I usually do. No doubt I'll nod off this afternoon while reading or watching TV.
I have tried stretching but find that lying flat out on the wooden floor helps better, The problem with this is it scares The Old Girl when she enters the room as she thinks that I've 'kicked the bucket'
I did get some exercise playing tennis and after that went to the golf course (see below).
I don't know about hot and cold therapy but do know that a hot bath with Epsom salts helped yesterday.
I don't know what a muscle rub is but suspect that The Old Girl will thump me if I ask her for a rub.
Ditto for "trigger point pressure release". It sounds rude.
I'm not going to go to get physical therapy. This would involve waiting around for ages for a physiotherapist who will then put a hot pack on your back and tell you to: - do all of those other things listed above.


**************


I bought a set of golf irons and bag last night on Trade Me. My current clubs are OK but I've broken the 4-iron and lost the 8-iron. I've been looking to replace these but buying them individually, even second hand, is expensive. The set I bought - 2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 irons plus sand wedge and pitching wedge cost $53. They are of good quality - Dunlop Maxfli but are old. The bag is nice quality leather although a bit worn.






I picked them up from the seller after tennis and went to the golf course to try them out. At home I have about a thousand golf balls but in this bag - nothing. I had to find a ball first to try out the clubs. I took an 8-iron and walked down to my favourite stream where, sure enough I found two good balls. I used these to hit two damned good 8-iron shots to the 4th green with one landing and rolling onto the green and the other embedding itself just next to the green. The course is extremely wet after all the rain we have had and it was muddy and slippery. I slipped over due to the fact that I was still wearing the flat-soled tennis shoes and managed to wrench both knees - my bad one and the other one (don't tell The Old Girl!)
Although I only hit two balls and only used the 8-iron, I'm happy with the clubs.


With my back giving me gyp and now some knee pain I'm going to have a long soak in a hot bath laced with Epsom salts and Radox. See: HERE




No doubt I'll nod off.