At the Polo

Taking up a half price offer we headed to our first polo match. “Arena Polo” to be precise. It emanates from the USA and differs from normal polo in that there are only three players per team and the smaller playing area is enclosed in a boarded and netted fence, the idea being that you can hit the ball off the sides. While the horses (known as ponies in polo) may not get up to quite the same speed, they are incredibly maneuverable and it really shows off the skills of the riders, and ponies. 

We were expecting a major day out as the event was a British Open championship hosted at a very posh facility near Windsor. When we arrived we found only about 200 other spectators and the “grandstand” was anything but – a basic structure of bench seats that at least allowed us to sit above the walls of the arena and see the action. The matches are very exciting and the riders have to keep changing ponies every few minutes to ensure they're not over worked.

Ponies awaiting their turn ...

The winning team

What made it less than a perfect day out was the wind that was born somewhere north of Siberia and headed straight into our faces on the grandstand. It was absolutely freezing - we had frosty fingers inside gloves, drippy noses, and chilled eyeballs for those of us following the action through a camera lens!  And the happy commentator in the heated commentary box continually made mention of how warm he was. And then we found out the mulled wine had run out before we got to the front of the queue at half time!  Vicki took one look at the 'tomato soup' we bought as a substitute and wouldn't touch it.  She made the right decision.

Befitting of an upper-class event were the well-dressed people and the flashy cars. Several Teslas were being demonstrated and the salesmen were very keen to talk to us. They didn’t seem at all concerned that we were minimum wage gardeners!

'My' car

Minis can't read