I had four couples from Singapore on my food tour the other night through Kevin Fogarty’s excellent Scottish Golf Experience company. And what a delight it was.

I have now met a few people from Singapore through my tour guiding and they have all been such wonderful company. Why is this? There must be something in their lifestyle and culture which breeds this type of persona. Very witty, sharp, intelligent, sensitive and quirky. Would that everyone was like this.

My touring is going swimmingly and I was in Edinburgh yesterday. It was a glorious day and as I walked through Princes Street gardens I saw a few gardeners working away on a new floral clock design. There was a big circle with some writing around it, which I couldn’t quite make out. I asked one of the gardeners what it said and he looked at me with a slightly wary eye, exclaiming ‘the National Institute for the Blind’ which rather made me smile a bit although he didn’t smile a bit.

My tour later with Jean from Wisconsin took us through Greyfriars Cemetery and coming out at the bottom I pointed out the lovely Old Town roofscape and the beautiful church hall which I told Jean is now a Virgin Hotel. And she said ‘how do they know?’ (amazingly she had never heard of Virgin Hotels nor Richard Branson) And this kind of wrong footed me a bit if I am honest. I had to reflect a second here. I suppose she said immediately what sprung to her mind which is kind of admirable.

Oh what great fun tour guiding can be.

Almost 2 months without a drop now and people are saying that I am looking good which is nice. I still haven’t got it fully in my head yet that this is forever and Alastair Campbell’s example is out there. I do miss a nice glass of red if I am honest and our Sunday evening pint in the Brewing Company. Anyway let’s see how this thing pans out. I do feel in control of not drinking.

Onwards, swing slow and fare forward.

As a wee postscript isn’t it amazing that the R&A is considering taking Turnberry on again as an Open venue? Why give Trump the spotlight here in Scotland too? Surely the top bods in the R&A are not tarred with the same brush as those Republican sycophants who have just approved the Big Beautiful Bill to make the rich richer, take away health insurance for some of the poor and are unable to stand up to the atrocities in Gaza and Ukraine.

I thought that at least we had some backbone in this country in most of our top level institutions. That we had a Harvard of golf amongst us in the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

And I know they say such organisations shouldn’t be political. But no, not now with the tyranny that is happening in the USA. And golf is rather important to Mr Trumpy by all accounts too.

Lord give me strength.

Stop Press: On a more positive and happy note I have just finished my first Old Course walking tour for Abercrombie and Kent and witnessed a lovely spectacle on the 18th green.

Firstly, one of the players in the group hit his drive to 4 feet. He then casually rolled the putt in for a magnificent eagle 2. I have never witnessed this before on the last of the Old. And I have also never witnessed what happened next as one of his fellow players got down on bended knee after the flag was put in and proposed to his fiancée who was playing alongside too. It was all rather touching and they looked a lovely couple. The sun was shining with white breakers cascading in on the West Sands, many happy smiling tourists around and it was all rather magical to be honest.

There is nowhere quite like St Andrews.

I was asked to do the storytelling bit of the Brown-Foreman, Glendronnach whisky tasting event at the Rusacks last night. It is held in Room 116 which is the Old Tom Morris suite which has a huge balcony overlooking the 18th fairway of the Old course. It’s not a shabby position.

It was a beautiful evening and I was lucky to have a wonderful group of journalists who had been invited to see some of the Marine and Lawn outfits and I presume write about them. Which is not a bad gig all said. Sign me up next time please.

They were all delightful and attractive individuals and we were lucky to have the characterful Seamus with us, who is the manager of Rusacks. Also we were blessed with the lovely marketing ladies from Marine and Lawn and brilliant Szymon the sommelier who talked us through the whisky. It was all very good fun indeed. What nice people.

Rusacks really is the place now in St Andrews with this amazing location and very neat decor, stylish bars and restaurants and superb views. Add a very charismatic manager and some great staff and it’s hard to imagine many better places to stay. And if you are a golfer well … well, tip-top!

Now to get a wee bit serious though. I am doing pretty ok on my sober journey and can easily go into situations like last night and not drink. Indeed I have not drunk in over 5 weeks. However I will be honest that there is a lingering something saying I can do this in certain situations. It was partly spurred by reading Alastair Campbell’s article about his issues. He had been sober for 13 years and now admits to drinking sometimes under very controlled circumstances ie with his wife. And I kind of get this and am thinking about the same. This is not to say that I am not really enjoying feeling good mentally and physically and all that. Because I very much am. But as they say up here. He that will to Cupar maun to Cupar.

Anyway I told you I would be keeping you up to date with this. And I will. And veritably. That is a must with this issue and the absolute core of it.

Otherwise my tours have all been great fun and I have met some very good and interesting people. It’s a wonderful job. Yes I have rather landed on my feet here. But I can’t forget Alan Chalmers who has now sadly passed. He set up Eat/Walk tours about 15 years ago and gave me the opportunity to start my new career. He was a very good and gentle man. Thank you Alan.

Fare forward passengers.