Having a ball.

Saturday night we went with friends to a ball, me in the old dinner suit and the Memsahib in her posh frock. A good time was had by all - it was very early in the morning by the time we returned home!

The after dinner speaker was "Geoff Billington" who is a two times Olympian with his legendary horse "It's Otto" together they formed one of the UK's best show jumping partnerships competing all around the world.

I know that I am against all blood sports - but this ball is organised by a trail hunt - where the dogs follow a scented trail. I also go to the ball and in my way I encourage them not to support fox hunting. Most of the people are into horses and the hunting element is just a by-product of their love of riding. I love to see the girls in their finest clothes - slowly get rat arsed - and the whole ball ends up as a bunfight. It is just good clean fun where everyone gets to let their hair down and have a good time.

I learned to ride many years ago - and although I enjoyed it enormously - I have to admit its been many years since I last sat in the saddle.  The after dinner conversation was very good at bringing back memories long suppressed. It did make me think about having a day or two out riding with the Memsahib. I still have my jodhpurs, hat and boots. Though I think the jodh's might have shrunk a bit since I last had them on!

A funny sort of a day yesterday was, the weather was neither here or there. At least the wind has dropped and the nights are a few degrees warmer than of late. The log burning stove at home has been in constant use for the last week. Looking at the long range weather report we can expect some cloud free nights over the next week, so we can expect some sharp frosts. So I made another visit to Rosie to light up the stove, burnt a few logs before stoking up with solid fuel and damping down the air supply.  That should air out any damp that might be building up inside.

At long last I finally got round to fitting the front cratch cover. The number of visits to do this where I have ended up doing other things is a big one. So now its done. next one is to take down the pram cover of the back and replace it with a tonneau cover.

So I am going back again today to fit the recently purchased electrical anti frost heaters and to top-up the electricity meter. We put in £10 for 25 units back in July and there is still around 5 units left so the mooring electrical supply seems to be quite economical.  I want to start up the engine and let her get up to her normal working temperature. Just to let the oil lap round all the nooks and crevices. We also have an Alde gas central heating system fitted on Rosie. However, we have not used it so far this year. I might even give that a go as well, by way of a test and to check it out for any operational problems.



Later.....