Sunday, April 18, 2010

Fabulous Friday

I may have mentioned our trip to the polo last month…..well it was so good that we decided to go again this weekend. The lovely Vikki was over from Oman, and as it will soon be far too hot to sit outside and watch anything we thought we’d make the most of the dying days of winter. And hot it was…….a cool 39 degrees in the shade……

Last time we went it was the Polo Gold Cup – a ‘proper’ competition with great players and teams. This week it was a charity match so a bit more laid back, so much so that we actually managed to get backstage (or should that be backstable??) and up close and personal with the polo ponies! Regular blog readers will remember that my Christmas present to my dad was a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the club, and this reminded me a bit of that.

Because the ponies get changed so often during a game, there’s a constant group of the on the sidelines, just waiting for their chance to gallop onto the field. Somehow whilst stomping the divvets we realized that we could clamber up a grass bank (pure class) and voila: let the pony bothering begin!

They’re stunning creatures (yours for just $20k each, folks) and waited placidly and patiently for their turn. We had a good chat with as many as we could get close to, gave them as much of a stroke as they would let us, and beat a retreat when we thought we’d breathed enough wine fumes onto them. Did I imagine it or were there audible sighs of equine relief when we staggered back to our table?

We watched the sunset through the sandstorm which descended out of nowhere (but gave much welcome relief from the heat) ordered another bottle of wine, and set the world to rights into the early evening. Another perfect Friday!

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