I had an excellent Sunday and a so so Saturday weekend October 20th and 21st 2012.
I went out for an early lunch on Sunday to local buffet style eat as much vegetables as you like Sunday lunch carvery restaurant pub which I have been visiting for forty years although during that time it has been transformed in various ways and offering different kinds of food. In the early days the dining area was in the form of Dickensian small houses with windows and book shelves which was great delight and fascination for children.
There was also a phase where in the bar lounge with its great fire offered a range of very inexpensive meals while restaurant had become formal with the little houses demolished. About five years ago the place was closed and transformed again as part of the Toby chain with a return to the Dickensian warm atmosphere created by walls filled with pictures and despite the increase in price on a Sunday for lunching, almost twice that with special offers during the week, the place is packed with several sittings for each table. I eat more than usual, and more than I should, with a standard meat choice which produced five pieces of beef, with onions, mashed and roasted potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli. I resisted a giant Yorkshire pudding and noted some diners piling their plates with several layers justifiably described as mountainous. I enjoyed a caramel topped ice cream and a standard coffee with milk before journeying home to watch the Tyne Wear Derby.
This became an unbalanced game after Tiote for Newcastle did a stupid and unnecessary foul which got him sent off and led to Shola Amiobe being taken off to bring on the defence minded Perch much to Shola’s disgust as this was a rare start for him. This did not prevent Sunderland equalizing when Demba Ba unintentionally headed into his own net late on! Overall this was a fair result in the circumstances with both sets of fans returning to their respective homes relatively happy.
I did watch one other sporting event over the weekend the running of the champion race horse Frankel at Royal Ascot where the commentators including the splendid Clare Balding were excited about the race and the crowds that were packed into the stands. Before his race there was the Queen Elizabeth stakes with the Queen in attendance to give out the prize, a race which she won on her 25th Coronation anniversary. She had a good prospect in the race so Prince Andrew came along so that if she won he could present the prize to her. Alas the horse did not run well.
Such was the interest in Frankel that many people did not watch the race from the stands but came down to the paddock so they could take a close look at the remarkable horse as soon as it came out into the parade ring. One of Frankel’s stable mates was in the race of the day to set the pace and of the other four horse, only one was considered to have a serious chance of rivalling the champion, mainly because the going was soft with the French horse enjoying such conditions whereas Frankel performed best when the going was firm. The horse did not have a great start and the jockey had to give the horse a good push in the last furlong for it to take and stay in the lead and therefore without the usually triumphant burst l humiliating the rest of the field behind. The horse is now retired to stud set to earn its owners of the order of £100 million. Its Trainer who is suffering from cancer made the effort to attend his latest of many classic race winners and with many members of his family also present, suggest that he too could be making one of last appearances at such a prestigious event.
It was a very pleasant day in sunshine so after the match I went for a walk through the parks and along the sea front stopping the Victorian park recreated as it was originally designed and planted with European money when I took tea with a scone at the Minchella restaurant which has a Facebook site and which I have now ticked as liking. The local famous ice cream maker now has two sites on the sea front having extending the kiosk into a good size restaurant favoured by bikers as well as family from far and wide. Later in the evening as I baked a baguette to accompany chicken soup followed by a couple of mini breakfast pastries purchased for a few pence in a weekend sale off at Asda the previous evening when I went for milk for the coffee I also drank during the day.
On Saturday I enjoyed a small portion of sprats in batter and bread crumbs for lunch and in the evening after purchasing from Asda a vegetable top thin base pizza I finished it off with the remaining slices of anchovies, several slices of the Milano Salami from Morrison’s at Seaburn and sliced olives.
On Sunday morning I watched the Andrew Marr show while checking out the Sunday Papers on line and which I am covering in my first of several writings with readings from Time Magazine over the rest of the week or related to the Parliamentary debate on the Hillsborough Scandal on Monday or the Panorama programme on the Saville Scandal later that same evening.
I watched Strictly come Dancing on Saturday and the results show on Sunday and the main part of the third new series of Merlin before watching over to watch the latest Montalbano where I fell asleep during the middle so will want to watch again as there is no book available so I will want to write up especially as it was another moving episode in which his passion and humanity was revealed. Going back to Strictly Come Dancing I predicted the bottom two as Jerry Hall and Michael Vaughan both were justifiably placed according to judges and public voting. I have never really understood the position which Jerry Hall, the former tall model had in society except perhaps her incongruous marriage to Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones and where the Stones are holding two major concerts to mark their 50 years and where some seats have been taken up at £1000 a time. Michael just looks uncomfortable when he dances and seems to have no natural rhythm and affinity with the music appearing self conscious. He survived with Len Goodman having the casting vote.
On Sunday evening there was part of the Country file in which a feature of Swiss goats was enjoyed as these animals are front half jet black and rear half pure white, an extraordinary breeding consequence. I also enjoyed the Antiques Roadshow, when a woman at the end had been given two damaged Japanese objects, one a bowl like and vase, which were originals and rare, by her father in law to make the birth of her first child in South Africa several decades ago. Although the damage was significant the total value was estimated at around £35000. Another lady could not hide her joy that the plastic red box she had bought at a charity shop for 19p pence was estimated as likely to fetch £1000 at an auction. I hope she shares the good fortune with the shop.
I then watch Andrew Marr again on his history of the human world where he has reached the era of Christopher Columbus and the exploitation of indigenous people for their wealth and their use as slaves. I followed this with Downton Abbey and then was ready for bed and sleep.
On Saturday afternoon I watched Warhorse on Sky TV and was very surprised as how good and enjoyable this film is. I believe it was on Andrew Marr’s show in the morning that the author of the book was interviewed and who admitted that it had sold few copies before the National Theatre created a play which is still running and which led to Speilberg deciding it would make a great film. It was not a great film but enjoyable as I have said.
The film begins in the English Devon Countryside as the son of a tenant farmers watches a neighbour raise the foal of a thoroughbred horse from birth until it is ready to be sold at auction. His father, a man prone to drink too much, since his experiences as a soldier in the Boer War attends the auction to purchase a shire horse for ploughing but cannot resist buying the horse in competition with his landlord and uses part of his rent money to compete the purchase as a consequence. When the landlord calls to collect his due and finds he only receives a portion he gives the man more time on the basis that the horse will be used to plough the bottom field with is full of stones and rocks. The landlord and several neighbours turn up top watch the son attempt to plough which he is able to do eventually under terrible weather conditions but only because of the special relationship which has developed between him and the horse.
Unfortunately coinciding with the commencement of World War I the crop fails due to exceptional weather conditions and the man is forced to sell the horse to the army where it is bought for the maximum price available, sufficient to save the farm from closure. Distressed at the failure of his father the boy has complained to his mother who has explained that something happened to her husband during the Boer War which he would not speak of yet the man had a gallantry medal which he threw away on his return but his wife had kept wrapped material which had gone through the war and which the son now attached to the mane of the horse when it is sold. The officer who buys promises to return the horse if they survive after the boy is unable to join up because he is too young.
We follow the horse as it journeys to the War Front with the officer making sketches of the creature which he intends to send to the young man. The cavalry unit are sent on an early surprise raid on a German encampment where the scout has not properly checked and discovered the hidden machine gun placements in a nearby wood. Although the German troops are caught in their tents the majority are able to make for the trees where after they have reached safety machine guns mow down the advancing horses and their riders. In this instance the horse escapes and bolts while the officer is killed. A colleague sends the sketches to the young man with a note about what happened. The note does not mention the fate of the horse.
We the audience know that it is found by the sick grand daughter of a jam making farmer sandwich between the two armies. This is after the horse has been captured by the German army and is cared for by two brothers who use the animal to pull an ambulance wagon for the injured. However when the unit is called to the front the young brother is told to participate in the advance while the second is told to stay with the horses because he has shown aptitude. However this breaks a promise made to their mother that he would protect his brother with both boys signed up by their father. He decides to rescue his brother and they effectively drop out and attempt to hide in a Mill on their way to Italy but they are discovered and shot but without the horses being found where they are rescued by an orphaned young woman brought up by her grand father. She has fragile bone disease but insists on learning to ride the horse and one day gallops straight into another German force that seize the animals and most of her father’s produce.
The two horses are used to help haul guns up a hill where other animals have failed and been shot for their ineffectiveness. Because of its experience using a plough and harness it is ideal for the task as leader of a pack of horses and becomes a much valued by their keeper.
Meanwhile as the War draws to its close the boy who trained the horse has joined up and is experiencing the realities of battle and on one instance on an over the trench top charge he is told to stay back and shoot any one who returns before the German trench is taken. When some soldiers do return before the battle is over, the young man cannot shoot them and goes into the open ground helping to take out a machine gun position. When he and his friends reach the German lines he is affected by a mustard gas bomb attack.
Meanwhile the horse has also survived and in the heat of battle the horse runs off along trenches and onto the no man’s land between two lines of trenches where it becomes enmeshed in barbed wire. Seeing the animal trapped a British soldier attempts a rescue and is joined by a German soldier with wire cutters and they the free horse and then the Englishman wins the horse at the toss of the coin and takes the animal to the field hospital for its injuries to be treated only to be told that it must be put down. The horse has gained a reputation for its miraculous survival and of the one million horses sent to the front from the UK only 62000 are known to have returned home.
The young man who trained the creature also hears of its survival and although still blinded he is able to make contact with the horse and the young man who rescued the animal hands him over and the doctor in charge agrees to do everything to save the animal as well as help the young man to regain his sight.
At the end of the war a problem arises because only horses of officers are to be repatriated home with the other animals sold at auction. There is a collection among his colleagues which raises some £30 for him to bid for the horse. At the auction he is out bid first by a butcher and then by the grandfather of the girl who rescued the horse at one point and who the grandfather discloses has died. When he realise it was the young soldier who originally trained the horse he hands back first the ribbon of his father and then the horse saying it what his grand daughter would have wished. The young man and the horse are therefore able to return home to be reunited with his parents.
What is of interest is that the writer of the book was influences by two survivors of the war, one who had been involved with horses and the other with the Cavalry and the use of horse pulling guns and powering ambulance vehicles. However the fate of the horses has to placed in the perspective of the eight hundred and eighty thousand men who died, one in eight of those who went to war from the UK and 2% if the British population at that time.
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