Pimms at The Hurlingham
As usual when you move houses, internet connection goes up the spout until things get organised. So apologies for missing yesterday’s blog upload but now we’re back on track and here’s a quick update from the past two days.
Currently number 5 in the world, Spanish tennis Olympian, David Ferrer
On the first afternoon we managed to get some R&R in with a visit to The Hurlingham Club for a swim and a few Pimms. For the uninitiated the Hurlingham Club was the original home of polo in England but is now also a very lovely private members club set in 42 acres just south of London. It has some (currently) very lush grass tennis courts and hubby Paul, who is much more of a tennis fan than equestrian fan, was delighted find that the Spanish tennis team were there having a hit (sadly Rafa not competing so not with them). Happy hubby then spent his time observing backhands and service action while the girls enjoyed a swim in the outdoor pool (yes, swimming in England in an outdoor pool without having to break ice!)
Very patriotic gear in Marks & Sparks
Yesterday was another beautiful sunny, hot day for the arrival of the next wave of Aussies sharing our rented house in Lewisham, near Greenwich. Vaughan and Rosemarie Ellis had a slightly more traumatic journey but soon recovered after lunch at the local French restaurant in Islington. We then ventured forth into the West End to the flagship Marks & Spencers store (see earlier blog) near Marble Arch, close to Paddington Green where we were to pick up our Olympic tickets from the “Will Call” centre.
What's going on here then?
As the London traffic had seemed very quiet the day before, it was quite surprising that the area was heaving with people and traffic; we soon discovered why. As we blithely wandered up the road we looked to our left and there was ............ the Olympic flame.
Aha! That’s why all these people are here! We had apparently stumbled across the handover of the Olympic Torch at Marble Arch. The Lord Mayor’s bus was the spot for the handover and the atmosphere was fantastic. Normally I wouldn’t have even considered going to the Torch procession but now I’m very glad that we inadvertently experienced it.
Taking the opportunity while the entire traffic around Marble Arch was at a halt, we dashed across the road to see “Still Water”, the 30ft statue of a horse’s head drinking by Nic Fiddian-Green; apparently a version of this is also in the Arena at Greenwich Park. I love it but I can see why some have commented that it looks like something from 'The Godfather'
Finally we got to the "Will Call" ticket pick up centre which should be renamed "WIll Wait" and,two hours later, spent in a very civilised English queue, we were finally in possession of our hugely expensive and hard fought for tickets for eventing, dressage and showjumping. Sadly, no tickets for the cross country or eventing showjumping day which are like gold dust but we have plans to enjoy these in a different way.
Megan Jones and fiancé James Deacon at Sydney 3DE - they will need lots of these after a bad day yesterday
Meanwhile on the horse front, the sad news came that Megan and Floyd had been replaced by Sam and Happy Times. Megan is obviously devastated, as she says “We’ve never, ever had a problem with him and a bruised heel takes him out....Just shattered...” However Megan and James are re-grouping and will hopefully take Floyd to Burghley or Les Etoiles de Pau in France. We really feel for Megan who had such a bad time at Kentucky in 2010 but we know she’ll bounce back and hopefully, as we’ll be covering Burghley in September, we’ll have lots of news about them then. On the other hand obviously it’s great news for Sam – let’s just hope all the team trot up okay this morning!
We're now installed in our Olympic base in Lewisham. The large house on the edge of Lewisham Park will no doubt over the next two weeks see lots of fun and frivolity. Hopefully all the drama for the Aussie eventing team is now over and it's onwards and upwards from here.......
