azdak

Gosh, it's hot today! It's like full summer, except that everywhere the trees are brilliant with petals and the grass is quite ridiculously green. I spent all morning out in the baking sun cheering Rebecca on at a dressage tournament. It was a highly stressful experience, as this was her fourth tournament and all the others have ended in total disaster. At the first one, she was riding Famosa, who was seized by such terror at the sight of a pile of planks at one end of the school that she refused to go in far enough for Bexy to even greet the judge. At the second one, her horse did a magnificent jump over the boundary fence and out of the school; and at the third one, riding a very young, not-yet-fully schooled Capriola, she got thrown off during the warm-up and then couldn't get past the judge's hut, because Capriola decided it was deeply spooky.

With all these catastrophes haunting us, and a riding a horse whose owner treats it as if it were made of porcelain, we had visions of this year's tournament combining the highlights of all three previous ones, but in fact everything went fine. Adria was persuaded to get into the horse box; she didn't panic at finding herself in a strange place with lots of strange horses; and Bexy managed to complete the test (or whatever you call it in English), without anything going badly wrong, although her face was bright red with heat and tension, and she looked as if she was being tortured rather than engaging in a hobby she loves. It looks as if all is clear for entering a couple of more serious tournaments this summer.

Yesterday I hauled my lazy ass into Vienna to meet grondfic and her lovely husband/partner/bit-on-the-side. I was particularly impressed by the sweet-tempered way he let us natter on about Peter Wimsey novels and lj fandom and Simpson's-in-the-Strand without ever looking bored. I was also seriously impressed by the energy and dynamism shown by both in exploring obscure corners of Austria and uncovering small-scale vintners that make fabulous local wine. And they both speak very good German, too!

I was wearing prescription sunglasses, for that cool spy look, and because I would forget my head if it weren't nailed on, I thought I had forgotten to take my proper glasses with me. As the evening drew in and the sun fled, I had to leave before it got too dark for me to see anything. But to my horror, on getting home, I discovered that my glasses were nowhere to be found (or at least not by anyone wearing sunglasses). It turned out that they had fallen out of my bag while I was running for the bus, and some kind person had put them on the seat at the bus stop for me to find. I was so relieved, I was fully prepared to slay any fatted calves that might come my way, except I don't suppose glasses appreciate a meat treat.