How to even begin to describe the awesomeness of this day? Today was one of those days that just go down in history as being a perfect summer's day.
I dragged myself up at 7 AM and was out the door by 8:15 AM, on my way up to Maidenhead. I arrived at the stables and greeted Diego, one of the grooms, who immediately started chattering away to me in Spanish, forcing me to struggle to keep up. I really do need to practice my Spanish more!
Quickly enough, we got mounted up, and I was on Violeta, a pony I remembered from last year. Not very fast, but fine enough to ride, and given how out-of-practice I was, I'm not sure if my failure to keep up and remain stuck-in the game was due to her or more to me.
In the second chukker, I got on a pony named "Pelo", who was much quicker, and therefore better for me to handle. Not exactly Parera-fast, but definitely helped me eat up the ground when I was behind the action.
The game was challenging, because I definitely felt like I was playing above my level. I managed to get ahold of the ball and take it down the field sometimes, but mostly I felt like I was just failing to keep up with the man I was supposed to mark, or arriving too late to bring the ball into goal after my teammate ahead of me had been ridden off. So many opportunities to help my team, and I just couldn't quite manage to get stuck in. And I was actually playing pretty well (for me), it's just that the old saying is true, that to get better you've got to practice, practice, practice.
Still, the game was well-fought on both sides, until by the end of the final chukker, the score stood at 5-5. We went into overtime to try to determine a result, but after no change in score after playing quite a bit into overtime, we had to concede that the ponies couldn't take it any more, and we needed to move to a penalty shoot-out.
The first player on their team went and missed, then a player on our team went and missed. Then a player on their team went and made it, then a player on our team went and made it. Then the player on their team went and missed, and it was all down to me. If I made it, I would win the game for my team.
Yet, as I circled my pony around, I have to admit that as much as I tried to remain calm, I just totally choked under the pressure, didn't get a solid hit on the ball, and came up short of the goal. Augh!!
Finally, with everyone on each team having taken a shot on goal, we had to retire from the field (without the customary handshakes, always my favourite part of the game) and go for a coin toss.
There, I can't remember who, someone said, "Adrian, you call it!" And so here it was, my moment, my chance to redeem myself, my one last chance to win it for my team. And so, as the tuppence (two-pence) coin reached its zenith, I thought to myself, "Let's think positive. Be upbeat. Optimistic." And so, as I looked up into the bright sky at that coin, I yelled out, "HEADS!!!"
The coin came back down, the captain of the opposite team caught it, and slapped it on his arm. With his hand still covering the coin, he asked me, "Are you sure?"
Well, I'd had a good reason for choosing heads, right? So I nodded and assured him, I was still calling heads. So slowly he uncovered his hand......AND IT WAS HEADS!!!!! WE'D WON!!!!!!
We were then presented with our prizes (beautiful engraved crystal glasses and a bottle of wine), and then we all went over to the fields again to watch the 3rd place game. I was pleasantly surprised when some of the folks on the opposite team who I hadn't met before invited me to join them and share in their picnic of lovely cheeses and bread, with strawberries and cake too. How lovely!
The game was interesting to watch, and I even ended up taking a bit of video of the whole thing:
Finally after the game, it was time to head back to London. I was delighted when another girl who I hadn't met previously offered to drive me back to London. Avoiding the train? Yes, please!!
So I had an easy drive back to London, after which I got back to my flat, and realising I had some downtime, decided to call my brother. We had an absolutely lovely chat (always my favourite person in the world to talk to!) where I told him about the camera I had swapped my iPad for. Upon hearing what I had access to, my brother urged me to go out and spend some time playing with it, so after we hung up the phone after an hour, I went out to Holland Park, a park within walking distance of my house, and spent some time playing with the camera. I will admit that I don't think I have a total grasp of it quite yet, but it was definitely fun trying different things with the camera.
I was then surprised whilst I was out to get a call from my friend Marjanne, asking what I was up to. She'd just gotten back from Toronto that morning, and was still trying to get over her jet lag. When I mentioned that I was out in Holland Park, she asked, "Do you want to get dinner?" Given that I was already out and starting to get a bit hungry, I thought, "Why not?" So we made plans to meet up in Holland Park in about 15 minutes.
Unfortunately Marjanne had difficulty finding her keys, which meant that she was constantly calling me telling me that she was going to have to get a bus and was going to be delayed. Still, I found myself amused enough when I found a local pizzeria with a giant window open to the sidewalk, through which you could see the final match of the World Cup, Spain vs The Netherlands, being played. So I watched the game, and I couldn't believe how many yellow cards I saw dispensed in such a short period of time!
Eventually Marjanne arrived, and we made our way to dinner at a restaurant called "Giraffe" that has a lovely branch on the South Bank, and so we were checking out how the Holland Park branch compared. It was a nice dinner, even if we were both looking a bit rough (I hadn't showered after polo, but had just gone out dressed as I was). Our waiter kept running out during the course of the game to check on the score, so we had constant live updates!
After dinner, we then decided to go to the gelato place just a few doors down, where as we were standing in line, trying to decide what flavours to get, I felt a tug on my ponytail. Who on earth in a random ice cream shop would be pulling my hair like that? I turned around, ready to tell off the person who was being so strange to be touching my hair, when to my shock, standing there was Sophie!!! She giggled and told me that she'd just been walking by on her way to visit her sister, and upon seeing me in the ice cream shop window couldn't resist stopping in to say "hi".
I then explained to Marjanne that Sophie and I knew each other because we played polo, which in retrospect was perhaps the worst thing to say. You see, Sophie had actually suggested that I come play polo with her today, except that she was suggesting that I come play at a place that wasn't nearly as nice as Kim and Carlito's place, and nearly twice as expensive. Yet, because one of my great faults in life is that I hate to say no to people or deliver bad news, I instead begged off claiming that I had a friend's birthday party to go to. I can only hope that the two of them missed the discrepancy as Marjanne asked Sophie, "Oh, so were you playing polo today as well?" and Sophie asked Marjanne, "Oh, so were you the friend whose birthday it was?"
Strangely enough, it WAS nearly Marjanne's birthday, and Sophie HAD been playing polo that day, so while their responses didn't actually make sense in the context of what I'd claimed to be up to, they made enough sense that I can only hope that each didn't notice that something wasn't quite right. Indeed, I quickly moved the conversation as fast as I could, and instantly concluded that this was obviously divine punishment for lying. After all, I couldn't have imagined I would ever run into Sophie on the street miles away from where she lives in London, on the exact day that I'd been lying about what I'd been up to! Apparently the divine wants to make sure I stay honest, if any lie I tell (even with the best of intentions) is so quickly exposed by such random coincidence.
Eventually Sophie begged off to go see her sister, and Marjanne and I stayed to finish our ice cream, before finally we parted ways for the evening. And as I walked home, it was fascinating because I could continue to watch the game the entire way through people's open windows on this warm summer's night. So I didn't even have to ask who had won by the time I got home, as I'd heard so many people chattering excitedly in Spanish, and seen too many glum-looking people dressed in orange sitting around their flats. It's such a pity the World Cup is over now however, as I wonder what on earth we're going to collectively obsess over these days!
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