Royal Burgess friendly match

I've noted before that we are fortunate to have a regular friendly match with the Royal Burgess Golfing Society, founded in 1735: their clubhouse reeks with the history of the game and they are also very good hosts (albeit competitive ones).
There were some things we did well: we all caught the bus up there. We all remembered our golf clubs and our jacket and tie. After dinner we produced (thanks to Derek and Ken) the best quantity (if not quality) of jokes, with Luigi making a characteristic appearance. And after we said farewell, the bus rocked. (The suspension wasn't great).
Unfortunately, the match was a golf match and there we didn't do so well. Keith and I set off well - we were level after 2. But however much it's meant to be OK to lose to a birdie it isn't really. The half way house was after the 12th hole, and our game was wrapped up by then, but not by us. Interestingly, after a drink of alcoholic Crabbies our game improved dramatically and had there been a bye we would have won it. Peter Hinson and Trevor Thompson did win their game, and John Cairns and Derek Wymes halved theirs, but the others lost. Although the results are roughly equal since the match started 25 odd years ago, Burgess have won the last four. Something to sort out next year...although I had thought we had a pretty good team this year.

This was my last friendly match. They've been good fun - and for someone with a poor weather reputation, mostly dry - but it's not always easy to get teams for them. I've put some effort into trying to change the format to make them a bit more accessible, and most next year will be half a day and a bit more casual. In the end, 39 people played in this year's friendlies, which is good as I also wanted to make them more widely enjoyed.