PLANES, trains and automobiles. The diarist and his Scottish scribbling colleagues employed a variety of modes of transport to get to Le Golf National. It makes a change from our usual horse and cart. Our dear compadre, Jim Black of a well-kent red top, possibly had the most pleasant travelling experience, though, when he spent a delightful period of time at St Pancras Station waiting on the Eurostar in the company of Jenny Agutter. Classy, erudite, sartorially elegant? And Agutter brushes up pretty well too. The English actress made her early breakthrough in The Railway Children back in the 70s and, more recently, has been a mainstay of Call The Midwife. On the roads of Paris, meanwhile, a midwife would’ve been handy. As the diarist and the rest of his companions careered hopelessly round the Paris peripherique in the hire car, there was more than just water breaking. Sacre bleu . . .
ARRIVING at Le Golf National, you are immediately confronted by a quite colossal edifice. No, not the media breakfast but the giant grandstand surrounding the first tee. With some 6500 seats, it’s the biggest in Ryder Cup history. Some of the more veteran scribes, armed with Kendal mint cake and Chris Bonnington’s idiot’s guide to mountaineering, set off towards the mist-shrouded media viewing platform yesterday and should be in place by Friday’s fourballs. Hopefully they make it back down in time for the opening session in Rome 2022.
PLENTY of work – over £6.5m worth – has been done to get Le Golf National spruced up. 15km of new paths, 18km of new drainage, 9km of piping,
two new lakes? It’s just like the diarist’s allotment …
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