Entry 4: August 5

“Waaaaade in the Water”

Day 3 has been relaxing. Again, we’ve had uncharacteristically nice Scottish weather. A late wakeup call and a “wee stroll down to the beach,” as the Boss put it (who knew that the Scottish phrase “wee stroll” translates to a 45 minute detour!). It was enjoyable, nonetheless, and we got great pictures of old Aberdeen. The paths were old cobblestone roads cutting through very scenic buildings and markets. This part of Scotland is exactly how one might envision it or see it in the movies – not modern in the least.

Pure beauty is what we’ve seen, though, with the old stone architecture and numerous shades of green. This morning’s walk ended by shortcutting through a golf course, right across the 8th fairway as people were waiting to tee off. I guess you can do as you please when you’re Bobby Clark in Scotland! You may think I’m joking, but it happens everywhere we go. Waiter asks us to take our feet off the stools as we watch a game on television. The Boss walks in five minutes later and put his feet up in the exact same manner – not a word! The first night at the Donview Pub and Restaurant, it didn’t take five minutes before locals were pointing him out to each other. And you should see the guy. He’s happy by nature, but while in Scotland it’s more like elated – the smile never leaves his face!

Most of the boys are down for a nap right now, but I’ll be waking them shortly. Then we’ll go down to analyze video from yesterday’s game. With slow-motion and rewind, no one escapes the Clark criticism.

Finally, we’ll have a short walk-thru practice session to go over set pieces.

Oh, two quick things! The 20 minutes spent wading in the water of the North Sea – the 40 degree North Sea – was, of course, Bobby’s idea. Pablo and Rafa enjoyed it, though, sporting their Euro-whitey tighteys as opposed to the rest of our adidas shorts. And we cooked pasta for lunch today. To the worried mothers, it went well, but you might want to spend some more time giving culinary instructions to most of the boys – I’m not sure how it’s going upstairs for Jack/Goldie/Toph and company. Surely, there were as many smoke alarms going off as yesterday’s breakfast.

Anyhow, thanks for the support, and keep watching. Things should get exciting for tomorrow night’s match against Banks of Dee. Thoughts and prayers with Pablo as he’s got a slight fever (he assures me he’ll be fine for the game).

All the boys are asking me to say hello to their folks, so I guess I should, or at least mine! Hi Mom and Dad!

Love you all,

“Slainthe”

Greg Martin