The trivial and the awful

The stuff you get through the post!  The majority of junk mail, just like the majority of mail, seems to be working its way onto the internet, but one still gets some brahmae finding their way through the letter box.  For instance, two similar letters arrived here yesterday, one to Dave Morris and one to me.  It's from a firm who tells us that "We want to be your builder".  As Dave is my tenant, I haven't troubled him with his letter as it is hard to see how it could be of interest to him.  Not that I probably should anyway as it seems only semi-intended for him.  My letter starts, "Dear Mr Barry", which I suppose is fair enough as the envelope was addressed to "Mr John Barry".  Dave's letter, though, is addressed to "Mr David Morris", but the letter begins, "Dear Mr Moore".  Mmm.  What's that we're told about getting the small details right?

These letters, though, have at least caused me to scratch my head in bemusement and amusement.  As has one giving me the chance to buy tickets to a "White Tie and Diamonds Charity Ball".  This is actually quite appealing as it promises an "evening of dancing and decadence".  This promise, though, sadly guarantees that I won't be going because it would inevitably be a let-down: whatever decadence is on offer will surely fall short of the decadence which such a promise has allowed to take place in the privacy of my imagination.  Could still be fairly decadent, but.  The sender's fast and loose attitude to apostrophization drops a hint that this ball might indeed be home to the unorthodox: "this evening of dancing and decadence in the company of the regions finest party crowd ... you will be able to watch our regions Miss England semi-finalist's ...".  Again, minor details.  Still, I mustn't be too harsh on the promoters of this event, particularly as they are far from unique in their disdain for correct apostrophization, as these signs which adorn a racecourse canteen/hostel suggest.

Never mind minor details, though: we've fallen foul of one major detail today, as was more or less predicted in yesterday's chapter: Ascot copped a third of an inch of rain last night and the track is now rated 'soft' all over.  That, unfortunately, meant that there would have been no point in taking Ethics Girl (pictured yesterday on a far nicer morning than today), which is a real shame as she's really well and, in every other respect, she had just about everything in her favour.  Still, on soft ground she'd have run badly - and probably had quite a tough race for nothing too, which wouldn't have been ideal eight days in advance of the Cesarewitch, which could end up being run on good ground and so which can still be regarded as a feasible target for her, tough a race though it will certainly be.

To drag this chapter from the silly to the serious to the very serious, I should salute the Carson family for a wonderful triumph in the big handicap series final at Warwick yesterday.  The winner Consider Yourself is part-owned by Willie Carson, trained in the Hamilton Road by one of his three sons Tony, was ridden by one of Tony's sons William and was led up by Tony's other son Graham, who is working for his dad after long spells with Stuart Williams and Clive Brittain.  Tony's stable is a very good one in which Tony (whom you might be able to pick out in this picture of his string coming down by the Moulton Road earlier this year) leads by example and I'm always pleased to see them do well.  What was particularly moving was that Willie apparently used the occasion of the victory to offer public sympathies to James and Sally Bethell and their son Edward, whose 24-year-old sister Jess died suddenly on Tuesday evening.  Bolts from the blue don't come any worse than that.  Even in a world in which tragedy is ubiquitous and commonplace, this was a truly shocking and awful occurence.  As racing politics are ever demonstrating, it takes a lot to unite the racing world, but the racing world is indeed united in its sympathy for the family in its grief.  The Bethell family is one of the best and, in an age when one never has to look far to see people who are alive but don't deserve to be, it's almost impossible to comprehend the workings of a Fate which can decree that something like this should happen to good people such as them.  Carpe diem.