Mailman brahma

There's always a brahma and there duly was one when I took Hugh and Cape Roberto to the meet at Balsham Hall today. Or rather when I took them to Balsham. I didn't know Balsham, and don't really know it even now, despite having walked around quite a lot of it today. Although it's theoretically a village, it's a big place, and I saw plenty of it today. Although not the Hall. I'd been given instructions of how to find the Hall, which basically revolved around going into a cul-de-sac, which I thought would be straightforward enough - until I got to the village/town, and discovered that virtually every street bar the main street is a cul-de-sac. Fortunately, though, Hugh and I found some horses trotting past us, presumably heading towards the meet, so we pulled over and disembarked at that point. Even more fortunately, three more riders then appeared and kindly waited for Hugh to mount, so the four of them headed off round the corner to go to the meet. I followed on foot a few minutes later. But, once I'd got round the corner, could I find the meet? I could find neither sight nor sound of it, and thus wandered around the village/town lost for about half an hour. What I did find, though, was the village/town postman doing his rounds on his push-bike, which I thought would solve my problem: I assumed that if he knew one house in Balsham, he'd know the Hall - and I also assumed that he wouldn't know just one house, he'd know every house. Imagine my consternation, therefore, when he told me that he'd NEVER HEARD OF BALSHAM HALL. Unsurprisingly, I gave up my quest shortly after that, still shaking my head in bewilderment at this mailman brahma. (And this mailman wasn't, by the way, Jerry Seinfeld's mailman nemesis Nooman, just in case you're wondering). I did, though, bump into EBF supremo Sam Sheppard (pictured talking to Hugh at Monday's meet) in the street as I was driving out of town; he's one of the mainstays of the Thurlow Hunt and he reassured me that Hugh and Cape Roberto had indeed found their way to the meet and had headed off with the field for the first covert. And happily it transpired that another good day's hunting then ensued.

Let's now see what brahmas tomorrow will bring. Let's hope that they're all good ones, with Ethics Girl set to head off to Wolverhampton for another two-mile handicap. She seems still to be in perfect condition, physically and mentally, so let's hope for another good run.