An arrangement with a slight problem!

When Eric arranges a golf match during an official drought, it is best to come prepared!




It is also a good idea to check up direct with the Golf Club to confirm the starting time, otherwise you may find a few other golfers and their umbrellas on the first tee waiting for the course to to be declared fit for for play.


And so it was, while all this was going on outside, that the four of us, Eric, Eddie, Martin and I, sat inside the clubhouse enjoying a full English breakfast, reminiscing about the days we worked together.
"Do you ever hear from Georges and the French lads we used to meet up with every year for the France-England international?"
"At Christmas!"
"He must be getting on a bit now" - as though somehow we had remained the same age for the past 40 years.
"Where was that restaurant in Paris someone was flat out on the table while plates and glasses were flying over his head?"
"Montparnasse: and that was you on the table Eric!"
"That was the time Robin went out for a breath of fresh air and didn't return because he swore the restaurant had disappeared".
"Do you remember the American Ron McKee on the bateaux mouches on the River Seine; he had brought his customers from the States because they had achieved their targets?"
We told him a lie: his amazed response was:
 "Jesus! these guys are here because they didn't meet their objectives!"
He collected the business cards of each of our party of about 30 and sent each one of us a 'Bunny Club' tie pin. I've still have mine! Not a very good reproduction by me but you get the idea.
Some happenings we never even got round to. The occasion  in our hotel room on the fifth floor of some old hotel in Paris when we heard a knocking on the dormer window and found a supporter from the adjoining room on the sloping roof in the snow. His room mates had locked him in because he had over imbibed.
"Could I come in please?" he asked politely.We pulled him in.
"Could you move the drinks frig please?" equally polite.
"Why?"
"Because you've put it on my foot!"
You may feel you have heard some of this before. You can find it on this blog under 'L'entente cordiale' of the 8th February 2011.
But that's the whole point of reminiscing: not only had we heard it all before but this time it took three hours for just a small fraction of our working days together.We had lived it and laughed at it and were grateful yet again that it had been part of our lives. Even moreso as Martin's son Simon had told him he was very lucky to have had the experience, because it couldn't happen in today's business world.

Eric doesn't use the internet; although I believe it is available in Cheshire where he lives;  but I will send him a copy by post.

"Eric! I do not suppose for one minute you will be surprised to learn that as I sit here typing away, outside the sun is shining. And I wouldn't be surprised if the powers that be announce an immediate end to the drought forthwith.   I do not criticise. At my age, a full English Breakfast and three hours of chat between friends has an edge over a wet morning's golf".

See you at the next tsunami Eric!