The Aberdeen DISC was held at the Copthorne Hotel with 24 attending. There were some hiccups at the beginning about a projection screen that was too small for the job and slide images being cropped top and bottom. But we soon had a big screen and fixed the cropping problem. From there it was clear sailing.
About town and country
The short hop from London to Aberdeen was little more than an hour, but it took us from the bustle of a city in full-tourist season getting ready for the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics to a quiet Scottish town. It is a gray place: The name 'Granite City' is well-dserved, I never saw a house made of wood. The big plan here was a pilgramige to St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf.
On Sunday we rented a diesel VW Golf that got about 50 MPG (why don't we have these in the states?), and wisely opted for the navigation system. My daughter Sam was still visiting from Ontario, so she served as navigator. I have driven on the right side of the rode a few times, so it came back pretty quickly. But, according to Sam, I did seem to have an alarming tendency to crowd the left-side of the road and get halfway through a roundabout and accelerate to the exit road.
We took a reconnaissance trip Sunday afternoon down the coast road toward Dundee. We stopped at two grand castles, Dunnotar and Edzell. Back in Aberdeen that night we attended Legally Blonde The Musical, which was an absolute joy. See it if you can.
On Monday, we headed for St. Andrews with Jill Abbott (my SEG handler) along for the ride. She agrees with Sam about my slingshot driving through roundabouts. Surely the Old Course at St. Andrews could not live up to 30 years of expectation, but somehow it did. Knowing all the stories of Old Tom Morris and his son Young Tom, Nicklaus, Watson, and the failed dreams of a thousand more.
One order of business was finding a hat. My best Scottish hat was lost at the summit of Mt. Evans outside Denver in a 70 MPH gale last summer. I was up there with Sam who was working at LASP in Boulder, a group she returns to this summer to pursue a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering. Anyway, we found the hat. Cashmere, made in Scotland and bought on a street walked by Old Tom. As it should be.
One rushed afternoon in St. Andrews is not enough. I shall return.
Sam and the long walk to Dunnotar Castle
Edzell castle
Comfy, our mascot, and the musical program.
The Old Course at St. Andrews and the R&A Golf Club
The new hat