Saturday 10th July 1971

Nana and Aunt Heather were up town for their weekly jaunt to Edinburgh so Iain and I played with the garden hose; what a flipping laugh we had getting absolutely soaked! Nana rattled up white fish cooked in milk for our dinner before I settled back to enjoy the final day of the Open golf. 

It was brilliantly entertaining; what a battle between Tony Jacklin; Mr Lu and Lee Trevino. Mr Lu made a splash, but Lee Trevino took the cash! You can’t help but like Trevino. He's got a great personality; on the last hole Mr Lu took out an old dear with his fairway drive to the 18^th; she went down like a sack of potatoes! 

Gaga took Anne, Iain and me down to the park for a game of putting. It was great fun. In the evening we watched the Des O’Connor Show.

Thursday 8th July 1971

Another very good and enjoyable day; you cannae whack the school summer holidays.

I played tennis again all morning - it's a brilliant game. 

Once again a few of us were out smoking in the afternoon. 

I've been told that I'm not to play with Les. 

I spent some of the afternoon enjoying the golf from Royal Birkdale; Mr Lu's captured all our imaginations. I also enjoy reading up the morning reports in Mum's Scottish Daily Express which arrives through our letterbox early each morning. Jack Nicklaus's statistics are pretty amazing. 

Like yesterday I played tennis in the evening when it was a bit cooler. Colinton Mains Park was buzzing with lots of kids out playing in the park on the swings and the chute. At the bowling green there was the occasional click of the bowls drifting across the evening air; happy days. 

Later on Reg (Brian Rennie), Tam Smith and I spent the late, still Oxgangs evening hanging out telling each other jokes - no different from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn a century ago on a dreamy American summer's evening.

Wednesday 7th July 1971

Another fantastic day; it was 80 degrees. What a stoater of a start to the school summer holidays. I spent much of the day down at Colinton Mains Park Tennis Courts. I played tennis all morning before coming back home for a wee bit of dinner and to put my feet up and watch the first day of the Open golf. It's the centenary; it’s a great event with a long Scottish tradition. 

I like listening to the commentators Henry Longhurst and the Yank, Mark McCormack; you learn a lot of interesting things from them. 

In the afternoon a few of us enjoyed some fags including Les; Boo-Boo; and Iain. After tea the weather cooled down a wee bit so I had a second game of tennis. My game's coming on nicely. Nana, Gaga and Aunt Heather were out. I missed cutting the grass.