Polo with the Blonde Dutchman

The pony lines

In the morning, the Tall South African crawled into bed with me (as we always do when we just want to talk or hang out), and we watched "Suits", a show that he's in love with that I recently discovered on my flight back from the US.  It was just so nice and comforting, lying in bed with him, just enjoying a lazy morning.  Nowhere to go, nothing to do, but just lie in bed and enjoy hanging out together on a Saturday morning.

I did have to get going eventually however, to go meet the Blonde Dutchman for a ride to go play polo.  I hadn't seen the Blonde Dutchman in quite a while, and although I knew that he played polo, we'd never played together before.  In fact, our relationship has generally always been that of passing acquaintances as parties, and I do think we would be friends, except that we've never really gotten a chance to spend much time together.

So in the car on the ride up, it was interesting talking to him about this online dating business that he's setting up.  It basically is based on the idea of social cachet, in that it's only open through invitations, and they're pretty selective about who they allow in.  Which was then rather funny when he was talking about it as though I knew much more than I did, until I finally told him that although he invited me along to tons of stuff, he'd never actually invited me to join his site.  He seemed utterly horrified and embarrassed at this, and immediately pulled out his wallet and gave me a really pretty slick credit card with a code to join.  At least it was really sweet, as he seemed utterly mortified realising that I wasn't part of it, as he'd long assumed I'd been one of the first people he'd asked to join!

He also seemed to enjoy my conversation about business practices, when I basically outlined how his business strategy followed a lot of classic b-school tenants.  Being in general, the girl that guys like talking to because she's clever.  He laughed, "I hadn't even realised that we were doing things right!"

When we got to the farm, we changed into our boots, and I got on my first pony, Margarita.  She was totally awesome, very quick and responsive, and quite fun to play with.  When selecting a second pony, I tried to avoid one that was too big, fearing that he'd be slow.  Alas, I got stuck with him anyway, and I was right, he was tremendously slow.  Thank goodness I had my "fusta" (whip)!

Overall, it was a good game though.  I find that I'm one of the mid-level players on the whole.  I found that the Blonde Dutchman was a better player than I am now, although probably only about as good as I once was when I was playing more regularly.  Yet, it's still a good feeling to be able to hold my own in the game.

I played on a team opposite the Blonde Dutchman and Sophie, which was basically a compromise of having neither the strongest nor the weakest players, we were pretty much all the mid-level players.  We worked well together as a team however, and scored quite a few goals (me included!)

After the game, we all decided to meet for a drink when we got back to London, and after settling on a pub, all sorted ourselves into cars for the drive back.  I ended up riding along with the Blonde Dutchman, and as we got in the car he made a crack about how, "it's just the two of us, eh?" with a raised eyebrow.  Made me crack up, as he always has this funny way of being super-suggestive with everything he says.  He's so devastatingly good-looking, you know that he's probably just cut a swath through the female population of London, but he amuses me so much, one can always enjoy being the focus of that charm for a bit, can't you?    Anyway, as we were driving, he did pause and just look at me with a bit of seriousness, "I never date girls who are part of my online dating business.  Don't mess with the supply, you know?"  I wasn't quite sure if it was a comment to me or just a note in general.  Regardless, he's too slick, we'll never be anything other than friends.

Tired ponies after the game

Still, it was something else he said that really got to me, when as we were sitting in the car, he turned to me very seriously, as though he really wanted me to take in what he had to say, and told me, "You're really a pretty good player, you know that?"  Almost a bit as though it had been a wonderfully pleasant discovery for him, that I wasn't just one of those girls who claimed to be able to play but who struggled to actually hit the ball.  That I could really hold my own, and that I was a solid player.  I have to admit, my chest puffed up about six sizes upon hearing that.  I was just so chuffed.

We had a great time on the drive back, talking about business, politics, and just about everything under the sun, including his propensity for breaking bones and describing himself as "a white Ethiopian" given how easy it is for him to run long distances.  Really, and opportunity to get to know each other a bit better, and to realise how much we actually had in common and enjoyed each other's company.  Although I think it would probably be hard for anyone to not laugh a lot in the company of the Blonde Dutchman.

We stopped to pick up his cousin, as they were going out to a "Tube stop" party later that evening.  Then we went to the pub, arriving at the same time as everyone else despite our incredible delay.  We stood around in the pub chatting for a while, until Sophie and I decided to talk one of the waiters into giving us a reserved table (we promised to eat dinner quickly), and went off, just the two of us, to chat and catch up.  I found myself unburdening on Sophie a bit about boys, work, and just everything I knew about everyone, from the Tall South African and the Blonde to other people we knew.  We kept joking that the table was a magical bubble and nothing went beyond it, but it just felt so good to talk to her.  I really forget at times how well Sophie and I get along, and how wonderfully entertaining she is.  I still can't believe some days that she enjoys being friends with me as much as I do her, but boy do I miss catching up with her.  Such fun.

Finally we finished up our dinner, re-joined the others for a last few drinks, and at last Sophie and I decided to walk back to the train station together.  I made my way home, and got a call from the Tall South African where he tried to convince me to come out to a house party right in my neighbourhood, but I was suddenly so exhausted, I knew there wasn't a chance of that happening.  So I told him that I would leave the door open for him, but I was going to bed.  I was so exhausted, that I never even heard him come home.

Still, before I went to bed, I did check out this online dating thing that the Blonde Dutchman had set up, and discovered that the guy whose dinner I had missed last week had invited me out for drinks in a week on Monday.  Grooving once again on the attention of single boys, I started to think, "Perhaps being single isn't so bad."  So even if nothing happens with Roofie's Brother, I've still got a bit more fun to have as a single girl.