St. Andrews

Yesterday I watched three holes of the four hole playoff at the British Open in St. Andrews.  The match was very exciting and tense but for me it was the joy of many memories coming back.  The sound of the sea gulls, which our son thinks was amplified for atmosphere, was what made me really nostalgic. 

Our garden flat (below ground level) was just two blocks away from the 18th hole on the Old Course.  We sometimes walked there and watched golfers.  Jim played the course a few times with his 5 pound annual student membership. 

When the announcers said that it was dry in the area of their booth, but pouring rain on some of the course, I remembered standing on a street near St. Leonard's School where I taught and seeing it rain on the other side of the street.  Our favorite weather person would refer to a prediction of "rain with sunny intervals." 

We lived in St. Andrews twice--a Fulbright year in 1971-1972 and an exchange semester in 1981 with another professor and family.  I visited two more times briefly after that.  I wonder if I will ever be able to go back.  If we did, I would like to actually live there for a month or so. I want to walk those cobblestone streets or the path along the Lade Braes again.   I want to see the North Sea from the cathedral and castle ruins.  I'd like to hear the pastor begin Sunday worship with his Scottish burr--"Let us worship God; Let us give him glory and praise."

I've said I don't care to travel overseas again, but maybe to spend a few weeks in St. Andrews would be worth the effort!

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