Caiplie House Goings On

I took a wander down to The Old Course yesterday to see how preparations for The Open are coming along. Wow it is busy down there!

The guys are busy building the stands and they all seem to follow the correct health and safety procedures, hard hats, safety harnesses. A far cry from the cowboy days when I did a couple of summers working on The Open courses.

Anyway I sent this photo out to my guests who have booked as a little newsletter. However this reminded somebody that they need to cancel.

so I have a DOUBLE ROOM AVAILABLE from 13th – 18th July! We are only 10 miles from St Andrews. The bus goes past the door. Which is the best way to travel!

mail@caipliehouse.com

Had my first round of golf during the week.
Yes I know part-timer!! All you guys who brave the winter months with woolly hats and gloves end of April is well in to the season well done!
I had my first round at Anstruther golf course with father Finlay. I have recently become a member so I am looking forward to a bit of golf there and maybe a par at The Rockies?

I also opened the restaurant up for the summer season this weekend. It was nice to get back at the stove. A few people came in for dinner. The chocolate melt pudding went down a treat!

In a bid to toughen up before our appearance at The Melrose 10′s next month I thought it would be a good idea to have a run out this weekend.

I had been informed Montrose could do with a couple of extra players so I offered my services to the skipper via text message during the week, he seemed interested and I was invited to join them in Carnoustie for an early kick off.

This was of course to be the work out before settling down to be entertained by the professionals in the culmination of the Six Nations and an attempt by Scotland to disrupt an Irish Triple Crown.

We got humped 95-0 need I say more? I think a few of the lads had been out the night before and would have preferred to stay in bed than been out on the pitch. The team played accordingly!
There was a surprising amount of skill on show for this level of rugby, it was a shame that it got a bit ugly with one Carnoustie player getting sent off and acting in a disgraceful manner, swinging at our players, his team mates as well as an astounded ref.!

Anyway groaning in pain on the couch I enjoyed Scotland beating Ireland. It looked like a different game than we played and my shoulder hurt when I threw my arms up to celebrate Beattie running through a brick wall to score….

In the early and mid-eighties I spent a great deal of time on Cairngorm mountain. With great snow winters we skied from Christmas to Easter and sometimes beyond.

It was a great place, a friendly place, a fun place. So it has been with some sadness I have watched as the industry has dwindled in Scotland.With a little guilt I have taken off to the Alps every winter for the last fifteen years

When I got the chance to work for The Ski School on Cairngorm last week I was delighted. However it was like going back to a house you used to live in and the new owners have made big changes! No chairlifts some old t-bars gone, some new lifts and a TRAIN!

What a week as good a snow cover as I have ever seen (As good as Easter 1983)

We could ski all over and I made the most of the light, dry snow, climbing up towards the summitt after work to ski The Coronation Wall a couple of times. The last time I did that was at Easter 1983 on April Fools day and our little group skied out of an avalanche. Our ski instructress had some explaining to do!

What a great week visiting old nooks and crannies we had enjoyed as kids. All the old jumps are in the same places. Children I knew stared out of forty year old faces.Eyes twinkling.

I love Fife but it really is flat after a spell in the Alps! I look at the Lomonds with longing and even Largo Law excites me.

So it was with great excitement that we charged off into the Perthshire hills on Monday. We purchased a new OS map, filled the flask with soup and set of for some high ground.

We found ourselves in the little known Glen Artnay.A trudge up a hillside found us above 600m and snow patches! We startled a herd of red deer who looked more than surprised to find humans on their hill!

With views up to a white Ben Vorlich, the buzzards circling and the stags roaming the hillsides you couldn’t ask for much more.

Now where is the coast?

This is always in danger of falling into serious rant category when I start on about the Scottish football team!!

So here we are again looking for a new manager, new direction and some new ideas.

I was never a Burley fan but I would say his departure has been badly managed, surely the time to let him go was after the failed world cup qualification? Now the executive look like they are making it up as they go along and are surely a much a part of the problem.

But what is the solution?
I am….and you are!!

For Burley to be axed is probably correct however I think we are really treating the symptoms and not getting to the root cause. There is not the quality of players available to the Scottish manager to produce a consistently good side.

This is due to a number of issues but mostly due to the relatively small numbers of players. Less kids play football in Scotland than used to. We need as many boys playing football as possible.

That means YOU and I have to make sure our sons, nephews and neighbours kids are playing football! Don’t get them a Wii for their Christmas….get them a ball!

Secondly we have to make sure those people involved in running teams are good coaches, that means developing skills from an early age.

We do not all have to be out with a tracksuit forcing our kids out for early morning runs. Enjoyment still has to be the focus!

If every body who is interested in Scottish footbal helps a little we may see progress in 10-15 years time.

Until we all try those that choose to boo Scotland have to have a look at themselves and ask what have they done…….travelling to Cardiff and paying for a ticket is not enough guys!!