Zip a dee doo dah

June was extraordinary. I met some fascinating people and made new friends – but sadly lost one. Time will tell as to whether that is permanent or not.

The month kicked off with a trip to Assisi. Growler and I went on a ‘retreat’ – which was a first for both of us, and I am now a convert to meditation. Fortunately we weren’t expected to live on tofu and wombat poo, but instead tucked into plenty of delicious Italian food and wine.

Talk about an eclectic group. A guy from US naval intelligence with his astoundingly erudite daughter, who live in Arizona; also from the States a ‘Minister of the Inter-Faith’ from Salt Lake City – no, I don’t really know either…; a newly married man from Tokyo; and class favourite – certainly for us – a heavenly Swiss Berliner who G and I both developed something of a crush on.

Assisi is a truly beautiful town, and on a late evening walk with G and ‘Salt Lake City’ I did have something of a life-changing realisation. Not for publication, but transformative. To round off a fabulous 5 days, we were on the same train back to Rome as ‘Berlin’ – never has a journey gone so fast. It’s testament to our friendship that G & I didn’t sharpen our nails and fight over the spoils 😉

Fortunately I was not abroad for Noel Linge’s funeral. It was absolutely standing room only, you couldn’t have squeezed another body in to Brancaster church. Rather wonderfully, a horseman who knew Noel brought his percherons over and Noel (a very reputable Suffolk Punch breeder back in the day) had his wish; to leave his home of something like 60 years and travel first to the church and then to the graveside by proper horse-power.

A few days later I had my first go at commentating, at the Norfolk Super Hero, joining Henry Symington in the box. Lots of fun, perhaps a bit too much gin, and certainly more appealing than actually taking part in the race (it’s been so long since I was last able to go to boot camp I think I’d still be out on the course now).

Then it was time for another holiday – June and July are much quieter for me on the work front, so when I was invited glamping in Wales it would have been rude to say no (had it been ‘camping’ I would unquestionably have been busy). I have friends involved in the Llechwedd slate mine and caverns on the edge of Snowdonia, and with new glamping tents to test drive, four of us pitched up… well, someone had to do it 😉 Touring the mines was both fascinating and humbling – I will never complain about working conditions again, those miners were a breed apart.

The weather was glorious, the tents astonishingly luxurious (I hesitate to call them tents, to be honest), and the walking was great. We even fitted in a trip to Portmeirion and…. after two of our party had departed, Katie and I took to the zip wires. SO much fun (even for Katie, who had undergone hypnotherapy to overcome her vertigo!).

On my return I was immediately thrown in to Blaston Show, my only proper work-gig in June. I stayed with friends on the Saturday night – wonderful fun, definitely too much alcohol, and great company. Alas, when I climbed in to the car to head to the show on Sunday morning I had a flat and bulging tyre (too close an encounter with a pothole on the way down).

Saint Julia, as she has been renamed, not only deposited me at the show but, after the RAC had got the car just about driveable, she took it off and sorted a new tyre ready for the drive back to Norfolk. A total star. The show was perhaps the best yet in the three years I have been press officer. Gate numbers were up, the sun beat down, and everyone was happy.

So, another month over. Mixed emotions with a lot running through my head. I don’t think I’m alone, I seem to know plenty of people reviewing what they want to do with their lives. I just wish I was slightly better at decision-making!

Turning back time

I have to admit that Cher is one of my least favourite singers – I spent an inordinate amount of time in 1998 reaching for my radio’s OFF button whenever ‘Believe’ assaulted my senses (number 2 in my Top 10 most hated songs, behind ‘Grandma we love you’), but she popped in to my head when I started to think about this blog. June has been bursting with reunions, meeting friends I’ve not seen for 30 years or more. I almost felt that ‘I could turn back time’.

I’m getting ahead of myself – much of this was in the second half of the month and, whilst work has been a little quieter than of late, I have achieved a long-held goal…. I can insert AND remove (the latter was even more alarming) a contact lens. Having sporadically and unsuccessfully attempted to do this for the last 12 months, I met the very patient Jack who got me through… now I just need to work out where my legs are, on the basis that I only put a lens in one eye (so I can do computer work, whilst the other remains great on long distance)… it is still a little disorientating. So if I LOOK drunk, of course I am NOT (although I wouldn’t be able to pass the Man With Two Brains Drunk Test, with or without said lens).

So, one life-goal achieved it was time for another – a trip to Shakespeare’s Globe. Sadly my companion for Romeo & Juliet was poorly, but heartlessly it didn’t stop me loving it (Shakespeare does it for me every time). I actually fell back in love with London, which I never expected to say… walking along the Thames, round St Paul’s, over the Millennium Bridge, on a perfect sunny summer’s day. The play itself was beyond brilliant and the building lived up to all my expectations which, let’s face it, is rare. I even managed to tie in tapas with Louise (of broken back fame – previous blog) and her daughters.

It was also the time of year when I had to do an hour’s flight with an instructor (makes sure we don’t pick up bad habits). Despite having been an instructor for the best part of 10 years I still suffer from ‘instructoritis’, but Howard is a legend and I had huge fun running through all the emergencies, forced landings etc. Always good to practise those, and seemingly I’m ‘the full package’ as a pilot – I think that was a compliment!

Work was all about Blaston Show, which was as good as ever. I’d spent the previous night with the lovely Jackson family, tagging along to a local 40th birthday party. With a big day and early start looming I was walked home ahead of Ben, Kit and ‘dancing queen’ Hellen by the youngest – Felix – who escorted me safely through a large graveyard as the most direct route.

Not only was Blaston Show fabulous, it was bursting with old and lost friends – one so ‘lost’ that at first he didn’t recognise me – until I muttered ‘dinner party, the Bartons, Shrewton, late 1980s’… yep, it was that memorable! I love that, with all of them, 10 seconds after recognition the years melted away – the same can be said of finally catching up with the White Rabbit interloper… I’m not a Whovian (fan of Dr Who) but time travel is a wonderful and mysterious thing. Actually, I’m being serious, the concept of ‘time’ is my latest investigative project…

So the month ended well. Steve, the mole catcher, lived up to his reputation – there was a trebling of mole hills within 12 hours of Leigh setting a trap, talk about flicking the Vs, and my nephew Tom and his partner came to stay last weekend, the first time the three of us have ever been together unrelated to someone dying. Seriously restorative.

If you need a job doing…

BiscuitCatching… ask a busy person. I have no idea where the last few weeks have gone, or why my blog is so late, given my work list is supposedly short in June and July.

June started with a nice gentle day at Little Downham for Horse & Hound, where I was kept entertained by Garry & Cala Russell, however Blaston Show was my main focus of the month and it totally lived up to its billing.

It is the most charming country show, with everything from cattle, sheep and pygmy goats to horses, classic cars and vintage tractors – I adored watching the ‘Best Biscuit Catcher’ class in the dog show. It really is a great day out, always on the last Sunday in June so if you live in the Midlands, put the date in your diary (for anyone that was there, Leigh Goodsell took some cracking photos, including the biscuit catching dog on the left).

I also had one of my greatest friends, and her inexhaustible flat coat retriever, to stay. I discovered walks that I never knew existed and it was the perfect excuse to switch my computer off for much of the day. My new ‘swing seat’ (in place of a sofa) had just been installed so we spent very silly evenings testing its capacity while planning a trip to Finland to see the Northern Lights this winter.

Apart from that my calendar gives no clues as to how it is suddenly the middle of July. My mother’s house is now sold – end of an era, and I’ve been airborne a couple of times. I slotted in another horse trials, Great Witchingham, for Horse & Hound and my own horse is a little fitter – however, the garden remains unweeded and I’ve given up on the belief that I might finally paint the windows.

I have been accused of not blogging because I have lost the last 2 rounds of the White Rabbit contest – when I say lost, I mean that I let said ex-boyfriend win (of course!) – so will allow him his moment of glory, it will be short-lived. Now I must go in search of a present for another old friend who’s holding a 25th wedding anniversary party this weekend. Yikes, I only lasted 5!

And breathe…

HannahFrancis-HilsHappy days, I survived May – and looking back with the benefit of a few good nights sleep it was fantastic. I think Badminton was the best ever – we have a really great team in the media centre so it’s hard to really think of it as work, despite 12+ hour days, made all the better by the charming Mitsubishi Motors folk.

Witnessing the master class that was Michael Jung’s performance was a pure privilege, it really is Michael 1st, rest of the world nowhere at the moment. It was great to catch up with the lovely folk I stay with for the duration, but my lasting memory has to be meeting Hannah Francis and Wilberry Wonder Pony. For those that don’t know Hannah’s story, click here.

That someone so young (she had just turned 18 at Badminton) has achieved so much in the face of terrible adversity is truly humbling. It was an honour to be able to introduce her to the likes of Piggy French, Tina Cook, Izzy Taylor et al – not forgetting the top three…. Gemma Tattersall, Andreas Ostholt (who admitted that whilst he thought he had the ‘wonder pony’ he would concede to Hannah that Wilberry topped So Is Et) – and, of course, Mr Jung at the post-competition press conference. Hannah has made a bigger impact on hundreds of lives than the majority of people could do in five lifetimes.

There was a semi lull after Badminton as I scrabbled to catch up with everything I hadn’t had time for, and then the Best Western, Corby beckoned. I absolutely love Rockingham Horse Trials, another fantastic team, stunning setting, and the annual high jinx that comes from producing a steady stream of interviewees for John Griff’s BBC Radio Northants live Friday afternoon radio show.

BBC Radio Northants and Leicester (the lovely Ben Jackson) are stalwart supporters of the event, which makes my job so much easier. Both BBC and ITV cameras shipped up too – oh the joys of a central location!

It was a pretty seamless move from Rockingham to Houghton – another stunning setting and super fab group of people. The weather held, the competition was great, I had a dedicated media cabin for the first time (it’s the little things that keep me happy!) and, despite being in the communication abyss that is North Norfolk, the internet worked.

Admittedly, by Sunday afternoon I was beginning to dribble with exhaustion, but some of that was self inflicted – I blame Trevor Holt, Lorna Mason and Nina Lloyd Jones for leading me astray. On the Monday, once website updates were done, I did not budge from the horizontal position in front of the TV!

So that was it – over in a flash. Time for a better work/life balance for a few weeks, with Blaston Show my only real ‘outing’ for June. 🙂

More B’s: Blair, Blaston & Barefoot

GeorgeWhy do so many of my work-related events and connections start with a B? Badminton, Burghley, Burnham Market… and now there are more…

It’s been pretty full on for the last few weeks, with some great news on the work front. I did get the job as press officer for Blaston, a lovely country show near Market Harborough which runs on the last Sunday of June. It’s something a bit different for me and I am really looking forward to it.

On a rather bigger scale (I am the master of understatement) I have also been appointed press officer for Blair International Horse Trials. I have huge shoes to fill, taking over from the super-efficient and lovely Bridget at JB Promotions, but fortunately the ‘dream team’, aka Ellie and Nina who I work with at both Badminton and Burghley, have agreed to join me in the Highlands. I appreciate Alec Lochore‘s faith in me, good to know that despite holding the same role at both Burnham Market and Houghton Internationals he isn’t sick of the sight of me!

On the subject of Burnham Market, Sam has signed a fabulous title sponsor, Barefoot Estates, a new boutique estate agency on the north Norfolk coast. Meetings and plans for Burnham Market have been ramping up, and we are really pleased to be hosting the first leg of the Shearwater Insurance Tri-Star Grand Slam. Regular 3* Burnham winner, and Manners Media client, Oliver Townend, has four horses entered as he bids for an early advantage towards that £50,000 top prize.

Web-wise I dropped in to see Brook & Kathy Staples when I was last in Sussex, to discuss a new site for them – they have moved yard so it’s time to get everything back on track. Neil has moved the Blair site to our servers, and we should have a new interior design site on line before too long. And best not forget, huge congratulations to Piggy French and Tom March on their impending addition to Team French (I’m talking 2-legged not 4 here – due in August I think).

I’m loving the longer days and getting out on George, albeit still in walk. I think we may be looking at another steroid injection to try and resolve the problem – he is not impressed when I hack around the main Burnham Market cross country field (off the course obviously!) and don’t let him ‘play’.

My event season starts this weekend when I head off to Isleham for Horse & Hound – I don’t think I have missed an Isleham since around 2002 which is rather scary. And how is it March and I have yet to finish painting my kitchen – which I started last April? It’s not that big!