Welcome to October! Shockingly the South Wales weather has chosen this moment for the sky to open and deposit as much good old precipitation as possible onto the land below. Not an unusual thing for Wales or indeed for the UK as a whole to experience. Then why choose this moment to hold the biggest outdoor sports event Newport has ever seen in what is essentially a field, actually lets be exact, in essentially what is rapidly turning into a bog? Even as I type play has been suspended for hours!!
Did someone say 'first Monday finish ever??'
Overall I'm seeing the Ryder Cup as a good thing for the area, yes most of the money is kept by the Ryder Cup association or whatever the frig it's called, but it's still brought people to the area, and taking the prices at Celtic Manor as a guide, the type of people it brings have considerably more money than me. I may be wrong, but that kind of generalisation fits well with Golf's image as a whole, seen as an expensive sport for a privileged few who also hand round in the clubhouse in plusfors sipping pimms. Now I'm sure this isn't true, I used to play myself only under less glamorous surroundings (Caerphilly generally, if you know it, you'll know what I mean), but its an image.
The elite/rich nature of at least this particular golf event has however sent people into hyperactive "OhmygodIthinkIjustsaw" mode. Storys coming from Cardiff city centre yesterday included, Will Smith and Michael Jordan shopping for a basketball in JD sports (do you think they were going to shoot some b-ball outside of the school??), David Beckham in some 'exclusive' clothes shop on Churchill Way (I forget the name, but I can't afford to shop there anyway), maybe even Samuel L Jackson getting a chicken bake and a bottle of Dr Pepper in Greggs, St Davids arcade. Do date I have seen nothing in the way of evidence that any of these people have graced Cardiff in the slightest (Apart from Mickey Jordan who was posing for pics in Revolution) but I suppose they have to be staying somewhere.
The truth is, to make the most money you need to attarct the people with most disposal income, which lets face it these people are. But I digress, a month or 6 weeks ago it would have been an event bathed in sunshine, but now? Washout? 2 years ago Nick Faldo made a joke about bring waterproofs to Wales, and by all accounts people laid into him, I think all thouse people owe him an apology. The writing was on teh wall at the Wales Open last year which was delayed by rain.
but oh well, people not outside may spend more in the gift shop. £40k watch anyone?
Also, this is an experiment, I'm submitting this via email written on my lunch break, let's see if it works. But of course if it doesn't work, you won't see it, but you know what I mean. I think. Do you?
PS It didn't work, my email added a huuuuuuuge disclaimer to the end so I'm doing this normally!!
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