123-day golf break broken.

Tues 26.7.22

The fall was 3 days before Eid. The whole of the Fasting Month was "No Golf" as maintained throughout my life. Today is  July 26th. That makes it exactly 123 days since I last played. It took a call from Tok Sleman at 6 am. "Come lah. I already paid for the buggy, but Amil called sick. Just be "manager" and putt only" was the plea I had to reluctantly heed.

I'd call Tok Sleman last week, asking inclusion into the original foursome w.e.f. 1.8.22, pain or no knee-pain. That's officially still 5 days away. The early morning call this morning changed that plan.

Of course I couldn't come on tee-time because of the short notice. But I grabbed my half-set bag and took the old Volvo, and got the buggy-boy to catch them at the 7th hole. So in the end I played 11 1/2 holes. I had 2 pars, 1 air shot, bogeys and a triple-bogey on the 18th par 5 hole in spite of the longest drive over the pond. "Ok lah, next Tuesday. But we start with $5 per hole !" (Our normal rate is $2).

We were the original foursome today, Tok Sleman, Tan Sri Hassan, Tok Molod and I. It was usually once a week with Tan Sri Hassan, but 2 or sometimes 3 times with the other 2, with the inclusion of  Tok Zaha, who tends to wander from group to group. In my enforced absence, they hauled in Amil. I found out about it later and called Amil to "reprimand" him. Now it looks like his sojourn is over. I'll let him find out himself.

It was an unsually busy day on the course today. Some schoolboys were involved in preparation for a tournment. Usually this club is one of the less-crowded ones in the state. Which is good for us, members, but bad for the club finances. Today I found that the clubhouse caterer is no more. Again. They are having problems retaining a good, more permanent one these last few years. I thought the imposition (illegal, I think) of the RM20-minimum restaurant bill would help the caterer over the poor patronage of that facility. Apparently the toll doesn't all go to catering. If true, that's wrong.

Fortunately the half-way house (the food-stop, not the toilet, although the toilet is also there) still operates. The girl is all the way from Sulawesi, and even after 123 days she still remembers me, helped by the fact that I always grab her hands when ordering my food. But all tables were taken except one. Tok Sleman picked the tab, which is not always the expected thing. But I did show my tattered glove to him. "Ask for a new pair from Helmy" I pleaded. "I'll ask him to get two - 1 for me" was the surprising response. "He got a 200,000-ringgit bonus" he added, referring to Helmy, the son. Helmy is with McDonald's, Malaysia, as the legal head as well as some additional position. His boss, also a Negeri boy, got 7 million. Good lord ! I wish I was with McDonald's.

Well, I survived the 11 1/2 holes and all the bad jokes. There were no new pains. But was I bushed. I must have gone through lunch and bath half-asleep, and was soon stretched in front of the tv watching a rerun of the recent World Athletics Championship. Very quickly the tv was watching me, instead.  Asleep.

........................................................................................