Enough of EGG showing me up in this Alphabet Weekend lark. I had to think of something so good that it would blow my previously dismal efforts out of the water--and I did. E is for Equine.
I had a repetoire of E's at my disposal. E is for exhibit (too obvious), E is for Edith (as in Piaf in La Vie En Rose, but we'd already done a foreign language film), E is for Eagle Farm (but they were racing at Doomben). Then I chanced across an ad for showjumping at Elysian Fields at Canungra.
I had no idea of what to expect, so I packed the camping chairs, a picnic, put in some warm coats, hats and off we went with Edith Piaf playing on the CD player as we made our way to Canungra, about an hour from home.
What a surprise. It was brilliant. The showjumping course was professional, the organisation was organised, there was a big screen and best of all Olympians competing.
We abandoned our idea to have our picnic at Mt Tambourine, and opted to eat at Elysian Fields. I had packed a lunch of salmon and couscous salad and meringues with macerated strawberries. I had got super organised and put in a bottle of low alcohol Bella sparkling to drink but alcohol was not allowed in the grounds so we settled for San Pellegrino.
We practised our digital photography on the nearest jump. We stomped the divots down on the showjumping field, had our photos taken leaning on the jumps, and entered the free raffle for a horse float (what we would do with it if we won we had no idea).
From reading Jilly Cooper novels I had a rough idea of the scoring system and we settled down to watch the professional show jumpers at work. What a treat.
I've put together a list of essentials for future viewing of show jumping that may come in useful.
I had a repetoire of E's at my disposal. E is for exhibit (too obvious), E is for Edith (as in Piaf in La Vie En Rose, but we'd already done a foreign language film), E is for Eagle Farm (but they were racing at Doomben). Then I chanced across an ad for showjumping at Elysian Fields at Canungra.
I had no idea of what to expect, so I packed the camping chairs, a picnic, put in some warm coats, hats and off we went with Edith Piaf playing on the CD player as we made our way to Canungra, about an hour from home.
What a surprise. It was brilliant. The showjumping course was professional, the organisation was organised, there was a big screen and best of all Olympians competing.
We abandoned our idea to have our picnic at Mt Tambourine, and opted to eat at Elysian Fields. I had packed a lunch of salmon and couscous salad and meringues with macerated strawberries. I had got super organised and put in a bottle of low alcohol Bella sparkling to drink but alcohol was not allowed in the grounds so we settled for San Pellegrino.
We practised our digital photography on the nearest jump. We stomped the divots down on the showjumping field, had our photos taken leaning on the jumps, and entered the free raffle for a horse float (what we would do with it if we won we had no idea).
From reading Jilly Cooper novels I had a rough idea of the scoring system and we settled down to watch the professional show jumpers at work. What a treat.
I've put together a list of essentials for future viewing of show jumping that may come in useful.
- Camping chairs (be prepared for security to pat these down looking for hidden bottles of alcohol)
- Picnic (be prepared for security to check thoroughly for hidden bottles of alcohol)
- Hats (it gets hot in that sun, particularly if you have no alcohol)
- Water (be prepared for security to sniff it to ensure it contains no hidden alcohol)
- Digital camera (to practice action photography, particularly as photographer is not under the influence of alcohol)
EGG and I decided this was the best of our letters so far. So relieved, I can rest on my laurels for the next two weeks. EGG meanwhile has been madly texting his mates in the hope that between them they can come up with something to equal my E.
E is for Equine--excellent.
