It was Sunday and we knew it was going to be a busy one. We had plans to go to see the La Liga match between 3rd placed RCD Mallorca and Granada after our golf, and whilst the stadium was only a couple of miles from the golf course, we were concerned about missing the 4 pm kick-off if it was another slow round. We tried to get an earlier tee time, but the course was packed - mostly with Germans - they seem to be the only ones in Europe with enough money to go on holiday - but we needn't have worried, we were finished in plenty of time to shower, change and have a beer and still make the start.
The day hadn't started well for me, however. I had lost my debit card in an ATM just after breakfast, but, with the help of our excellent local agent, Rob (from Edinburgh), a few phone calls later and it was all sorted out.
Son Vida is one of 3 courses owned by the Sheraton Arabella hotel group and it was the best one we had played yet - although we didn't get off to the best of starts there. First of all, there were no buggies - they had all been pre-booked - we didn't even know you could do this, as most courses say you can't. It was going to be a hot one and we were now faced with the prospect of hauling trolleys round. We were also held up a bit at the start, which only added to the tension of our timetable. Syd, as elder statesman, had managed to secure the last available powered trolley, but he was still conserving all his energy before we went out:
By the time we got to the 18th hole, we were all knackered - it had been a really hot day and we were bushed from pulling our trolleys round the course - but we spotted a plaque there to commemorate Seve winning the 1990 Balearic Open in a play-off with Magnus Persson:
Scoring was much better today, averaging exactly 30 points for the 7 of us (Archie did his tourist thing and bought our tickets for the football). My 32 points would have been good enough to win on any of the three previous days, but here it was only 3rd to what Malcolm thought would be his winning score of 34, only for him, in turn, to be pipped by Ken, with 35 points.
Here's Ken receiving his prize ball just before we headed off to the soccer match:
As you can see from above, most of us had put on long trousers as we had planned to go straight for dinner after the match - but this was a big mistake. We were in the open side of the ground, baking in the early evening sun. It was like a sauna as we watched the first half:
The beer and hot dogs helped, but by half time, we all urgently needed more liquid, so we stocked up:
We walked back from the stadium towards the city after the match, still all pretty hot and sweaty - especially Dick, who, at times, was almost stripped to the waist - he was so hot and bothered:
We came across one of Palma's large parks and what should we spot but an advert for their Oktoberfest. We had little option but to stop for a quick refreshment, did we?:
The large marquee/tent was laid out exactly as they do the real thing - on a far greater scale - in Munich. Some of you may recall that we briefly used a hat I bought there some years ago for our D.o.D.'s at both the Iberian Cup and the Summer Quaich. Well, blow me, they had exactly the same Bavarian hat for sale here at the products stall - only this one was in blue, not grey:
There was talk of resurrecting the wearing of the Dunce's cap, but don't worry, it was all just beer talk!
When we all finally made it back to the tourist/cathedral area of the city, we found a lovely tapas bar before heading back to the hotel for nightcaps as we watched a flamenco show.
Tired little boys we were, but it had been a great day.
No comments:
Post a Comment