Ray Sizer's blog
Warm beer, thunderstorms and the golf begins
Last night I left the course at about 8pm took the usual route on the bus to the media car park and then waited for the 437 to Greasby.
It is a 20 minute wait and when the bus comes he drives straight past. I obviously didn't wave enough to stop him so I gave him another sort of wave that hopefully he saw in his rear view mirror. 30 minutes to the next bus so I started to walk only to see another bus go by me 10 minutes later. I just kept on walking.
It is amazing how much more you see when you are walking. It was about 3 miles to Greasby and I took lots of pic on the way there, mainly of the old buildings.
On my arrival I decided to reward myself with a pint at the Grieve and Dunning. I want a pint of English beer please I say to the barmaid as the eyes of the local crowd turn to have a look at the handsome man with the aussie accent. I end up getting something called a Black Sheep that was warmer than the day outside. I stood and drank the beer without anyone saying a word to me. This pub seemed to be the trendy pub in town so I decided to try The Red Cat down the road.
I walked up to the bar and said the same thing and the two guys at the bar started talking to me. Their names were Glen and Bruno and we had a great chat about the golf and other things. The barman my gave me 2 small beers to try and I decided to have the Boddingtons Bitter over the John Smith Extra Smooth and at 1 pound 15 pence (just under 3 aussie dollars) it was a reasonable price for a pint of beer.
At 10pm I decided that I should go home and see my hosts. Jenny was having a glass of wine and Peter was off picking up some more guests that were also staying in their house and going to the golf. Home owners registered with the tourist centre if they had rooms to let out.
Another sound night sleep. A bit hard to get up at 5.30 am after two pints and two Jim Beams. Woke to the sound of rain on the roof and a little cooler. Checked my phone to see that another pesky aussie had tried to wake me but I fixed them up, I slept right through the phone going off.
Another English breakfast and then Peter dropped myself and the other guests at the course.
On entering the course at 6.30am you knew there was something different.
There were people brushing the fairways and already thousands of spectators around. It is hard to explain, you could just feel that something special was happening. Totally different to the last three days on the course.
Play had started 30 mins late due to thunderstorms in the area. Headed off to the first tee to follow Corowa golfer Marcus Fraser. I said I would send a few pics back for the Border Mail in Albury. I'm hoping they will pay me in beer, but hopefully not that Black Sheep stuff.
On the course some of the marshals are wearing hard hats just in case they get hit by a ball. They think of everything over here. Imagine how much a helmet dinted by the Tiger would sell for on ebay.
Just looked at the score board and Marcus Fraser is leading at 3 under par.
We may have to claim him as well, he is almost local.
Cheers
More later
Ray
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