Lady of Leisure

Today I had a full plan for the day. I was going to clean the kitchen, hoover the stairs, ebay some more of the vast amount of junk we need to shift; try and get near enough to the garden to plant some spinach; get down the wood pile....

But none of it is done. I sat down on the sofa, put my feet up, and watched Burghley, texting dear son to come home and walk dog (he did).

Cor. BRILLIANT round from William Fox-Pitt (though why did the BBC cut the round off two jumps early?) on Tamarillo - just amazing to see, and of the young riders I was really impressed by Sara Squires and Angus Smales. Loved the commentary by Ian Stark too, and his female counterpart - who was she? Missed the very beginning but I thought she did a grand job. Far, far preferred them to Mike Tucker, who always sounds as if he should be commentating on racing.

Comments

winnie said…
Being a bit of a Luddite, I still don't have access to interactive tv so had to put up with the pitiful hour and a half shown on BBC2 on Sunday pm. And Michael Tucker's commentary, boo! He brays most unattractively IMO, and goes on about 'great preformances'. He gets lots wrong as well, and won't shut up....a bit like me really ha ha!

There was some great riding but of course they don't show the young riders at all unless they happen to be on the course with one of the top folks. I liked the look of Clea Phillips' XC round, I thought she was very brave to go round at that speed in those conditions.

What I hate is the awful falls, although with the ground being so wet at least the horses sink in rather than crunching onto hard ground. Daisy Dick's adventure in that ditch looked horrible, I thought they'd never get that horse out.
Jane Badger said…
Winnie yes, that's it. MT brays. He always sounds as if he's just about to shout "And they're coming into the last furlong, and Red Rum is leading them home...." Yuck.

I don't like the falls either (there were some horrors at the mushrooms). Incidentally I watched the BBC commentary on the Sunday, and someone had obviously "had a word" - everyone was calling them "the mushrooms" on Sat, and by Sunday they were "the Coutts curve." And they don't advertise on the BBC, huh?
Unknown said…
Bah - I missed it all. I think it was mentioned somewhere in the Radio Times, but I forgot about it.

I wish they'd show more of the pararolympic equestrian events. Out of an hour's programme last night, all we got was a four minute round up with barely any footage of anyone actually riding. enough with the bicycles - I want to see horses !
Anonymous said…
We managed to record most of Saturday's Burghley XC coverage with some crafty manipulating of technology, and I watched it in tow bits Sat eve after work and Sun morning. Great treat, though it was ahuge relief to have abreak from MT who is fine in small doses. The two female commentators were Tina Cook, and Alice Plunkett (aka Mrs Fox-Pitt), who were good, and Ian Stark is honest and funny!

I too was impressed with Mary King, Tamarillo, Angus Smlaes (fab!) and I thought Oppositions Buzz wsa fab (was he Clea's horse?)

Glad to hear you got your priorities right on Saturday Jane! Brownie point for dog walking son too.

PS Did you enjoy the feature tent and picnickers? lol.
Anonymous said…
PPS I'm smallbutmighty but I can't make my ID work! Oops!
Jane Badger said…
Hello sbutm! Great to hear from you again. No, I missed the picnickers...

Thanks for telling me it was Alice Plunkett - very good I thought, as was Tina Cook. There are so many excellent equine commentators out there I can't see why the BBC stick with MT. I wonder what Graham Fletcher's like? I like what he writes in H&H.

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