Ashes To Ashes!

Do I or don't I stay up for the first Test match in the Ashes series in  Australia?...I think coverage starts at about 11.30pm this evening, so the temptation is definitely there to record the action and hope that nobody tells me what happened in the morning.  The trouble is, the more you try to avoid hearing the results the more likely it seems to be that someone will let the cat out of the bag!  It also seems to me that whenever the England team have a great chance of beating the Aussies in their own back yard something always happen for us to get beaten...this year though the Australians are very subdued - there is nothing like as much gloating as usual.  By the way, when do you ever see an Aussie batsman walking?  When his car has broken down!  Keep smiling, and come on England!

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I am not normally one for watching reality television programmes, but I must admit to have taken a bit of an interest in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!  What I would really like to know is why on earth would Gillian McKeith want to go on such a show?  Apparently she has never seen the programme - I find that hard to believe, and if I was a cynic (oh, I am!) I would think that she has gone on there for the money.  Well, I would gladly contribute to a whip-round to get her off the show - she screeches at every opportunity, especially when she has to go near any water.  I think if I lived next door to her I would have to make sure that her water supply was cut-off!

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Yesterday was the second day running where there was a winner finishing alone.  This time it was a four runner beginners chase at Lingfield, won by Mohayer.  It is surely only a matter of time before we have a race where there are no finishers - remember jockey's are no longer allowed to remount their horses.

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I am afraid that conditions were not conducive to taking too many decent shots on the gallops this morning as we schooled some horses over fences, and it is worse still this morning with torrential rain that doesn't look like letting up for a while yet.  Nonetheless, I braved the elements to bring you these shots of Faasel and Roi de Rose, and Madison du Berlais and Master Overseer.

  
Above left: (l-r) Faasel and Roi de Rose, and right: Madison du Berlais and Master Overseer school over fences