I have not been off-line as long as this since joining the site a month ago. I am typing with one finger as I try to down (and keep down!) a pint of milky tea sweetened with six teaspoons of sugar. I am smoking a bent early 50's Stanwell blast because it is as light as a feather; in its bowl is ready-rubbed Dunhill 965 my mixture. I don't smoke ready-rubbed, but this morning I haven't the strength to rub out a flake - me, Flakyjakey!! LOL
The Occasion - my best friend of forty years got married again, without telling anyone, not even me, HIS best friend!! He had decided to ask three of his friends and their OH's to his home last evening to share in their mutual joy and in a special meal prepared by his own hand. Earlier yesterday he had asked me to bring a couple of bottles of claret, so I knew we would at least be eating lamb. I tried not to sound upset, but I was, not because I wasn't present at the brief civil ceremony but because afterwards he and his now wife had shared a four-hour lunch at the best restaurant in Scotland - my favourite in the whole freakin' wide world - and IMHO the finest on the planet. And I wasn't invited!! LOL
The Company -
The gentlemen: All 'medical' golfers, me being the exception. Tom, a family practitioner (GP) and ex-international field hockey (a girl's game!) centre forward, plays once a month, off a handicap of seven. Bobbie, also a GP, plays once a week off four (I'm told that's good) and as a young man had to choose between a career as a professional soccer player (a game widely played by girls in the US), a professional golfer or medicine. Finally Duncan (I decided not to to enquire as to his handicap!!), also a GP and the team doctor for a well-known Scottish soccer club. As a rugby player, I held the moral, and masculine, high ground - and they knew it!! LOL
The ladies: another GP, a community nurse and a pulmonary nurse (my very own OH)
So you can imagine the banter was extreme, bordering on offensive, but we were all 'medical' so there was no issue with 'confidentiality' and we were decades-old friends. We all had Celtic genes so we drank - hard! - as the occasion demanded. I did not take my pipe, out of respect for my non-smoking friends.
The food - Tom had really put his best into the meal:
1. Butternut squash soup, enlivened with some chili
2. An exquisite risotto con funghi, with woodland mushrooms picked by the newly-weds
3. Roast leg of Scottish Lamb
4. Dessert - sorry can't remember lol
5. Cheese board with a fantastic range of cheeses
The drinks:
1. 3 bottles of Bollinger Champagne
2. 2 bottles of dry white from Savennieres in the Loire Valley
3. 2 bottles of "Chasse Spleen" 2000 claret (his) and 2 bottles of "Pavillon Rouge de Ch Margaux" 2000 claret (the wine I took)
4. No Port!! BUT we went straight into 18 year old "Highland Park" (yes, with 10% room temp Scottish water!!)
Number 4 was my downfall!
I do not remember the taxi home. Apparently we got back at 02.00. I think a nurse undressed me, but I don't know whether she interfered with me in any other way LOL
This morning I was trying to think of an animalism for the mother of all hangovers - The best I could come up with was a 'Balrog' - the horrible demon that nearly killed Gandalf!! LOL
The Occasion - my best friend of forty years got married again, without telling anyone, not even me, HIS best friend!! He had decided to ask three of his friends and their OH's to his home last evening to share in their mutual joy and in a special meal prepared by his own hand. Earlier yesterday he had asked me to bring a couple of bottles of claret, so I knew we would at least be eating lamb. I tried not to sound upset, but I was, not because I wasn't present at the brief civil ceremony but because afterwards he and his now wife had shared a four-hour lunch at the best restaurant in Scotland - my favourite in the whole freakin' wide world - and IMHO the finest on the planet. And I wasn't invited!! LOL
The Company -
The gentlemen: All 'medical' golfers, me being the exception. Tom, a family practitioner (GP) and ex-international field hockey (a girl's game!) centre forward, plays once a month, off a handicap of seven. Bobbie, also a GP, plays once a week off four (I'm told that's good) and as a young man had to choose between a career as a professional soccer player (a game widely played by girls in the US), a professional golfer or medicine. Finally Duncan (I decided not to to enquire as to his handicap!!), also a GP and the team doctor for a well-known Scottish soccer club. As a rugby player, I held the moral, and masculine, high ground - and they knew it!! LOL
The ladies: another GP, a community nurse and a pulmonary nurse (my very own OH)
So you can imagine the banter was extreme, bordering on offensive, but we were all 'medical' so there was no issue with 'confidentiality' and we were decades-old friends. We all had Celtic genes so we drank - hard! - as the occasion demanded. I did not take my pipe, out of respect for my non-smoking friends.
The food - Tom had really put his best into the meal:
1. Butternut squash soup, enlivened with some chili
2. An exquisite risotto con funghi, with woodland mushrooms picked by the newly-weds
3. Roast leg of Scottish Lamb
4. Dessert - sorry can't remember lol
5. Cheese board with a fantastic range of cheeses
The drinks:
1. 3 bottles of Bollinger Champagne
2. 2 bottles of dry white from Savennieres in the Loire Valley
3. 2 bottles of "Chasse Spleen" 2000 claret (his) and 2 bottles of "Pavillon Rouge de Ch Margaux" 2000 claret (the wine I took)
4. No Port!! BUT we went straight into 18 year old "Highland Park" (yes, with 10% room temp Scottish water!!)
Number 4 was my downfall!
I do not remember the taxi home. Apparently we got back at 02.00. I think a nurse undressed me, but I don't know whether she interfered with me in any other way LOL
This morning I was trying to think of an animalism for the mother of all hangovers - The best I could come up with was a 'Balrog' - the horrible demon that nearly killed Gandalf!! LOL
