So our Norn Iron session is drawing to a close to the relief of a couple of bloggees who are not riveted by affairs across the water and are apparently looking forward to hearing more about goings on in the Merse. A quick glance at the Berwickshire reveals nothing of riveting interest except about composting-a novel concept around us-to which Huttonian will return later. Norn Iron is certainly light years ahead of the Merse on environmental issues such as recycling but organic food has certainly not caught on here either with the local Tesco as organic deficient as Morrisons in Berwick.
So it is away with the golf trolley and the clubs in the boot ready for a long sea voyage on Saturday. It was good to end golf here on a high note- a wonderful round with not a single bad shot-a first since many decades of sporadic golf and almost back to my student days when 54 holes in a single day was not unusual. But I went to Trinity College Dublin as I was told that there were twenty courses within 7 miles of Nelson's Pillar as opposed to only one within the same distance from Oxford city centre. And entrance to TCD was slightly less challenging than Oxbridge-one Irish grand parent and one 0 Level I was told by the Junior Dean at my admission interview. I was able to proudly tell him that I was doubly qualified on both counts.
And I never regretted my choice to attend an institution of higher education where exams were almost irrelevant and when if bored or stuck on one subject you could easily change to another. One student in my time was in her twentieth year as an under grad and had never gone beyond a second year on any degree course. But then she had an allowance from her parents estate which paid her handsomely as long as she was a student.
I ended 4 years (regulation time for an Honours degree) with a very low golf handicap, a tolerance for vast amounts of stout and other alcoholic beverages, an ability to hold forth fluently if not entirely accurately on any subject under the sun,and a tolerance for mankind in all her infinite variety. And ,oh yes, a degree. Not very useful attributes until I became a diplomat when the first three qualities became indespensible.
