posted on 13 March 2007 14:16
by
Mark
Cheltenham Festival
Excitement reigns chez us, as this week sees the return of the annual Cheltenham Festival. Although the town has a reputation in some quarters for stuffiness and snobbery, it does, at least for three (and now, I think, for four) days a year, let its blue-rinse hair down and admit THE IRISH, for a bacchanalian festival of gambling, partying and drinking.
Now personally, I barely touch a drop, although Squidgie enjoys a sniff of the barmaid’s apron every now and again, but the Festival has a way of bringing the most abstemious to the bar, the most Methodist to the bookies, and the most miserable to a state of joyousness. It is an indescribably celebratory week, and although it is of crucial fiscal importance to the town, the atmosphere of sheer optimistic happiness pervading every bar, restaurant and turf accountant transcends any thought of commercial gain.
So, anyway, with Festival week just around the corner, this led us last week to think of how we could recreate this seemingly unique atmosphere, here in the Ariege. After pondering the yawning cultural gap between Ladbrokes and a PMU bar, we devised a plan. Rather than cajole the steadfastly stuck-in-their-ways punters of the Café des Sports to adopt the imperial odds system, we thought we’d do it all at home.
What we’re going to do is print off the runners and riders for each race each day, and blue tack them to the walls of the living room. Then we’ll invite all the old men from the commune to stand around aimlessly looking at the listings, occasionally noting something down with a stubby little pen, and encourage them to puff on their portable bonfires. Hopefully, the whole effect will loosely approximate to that of a bookies in Cheltenham. All it will lack is a forlorn, twitching oddball from the Forest of Dean sitting in the corner, rueing his bad luck, although the goat tranquilliser fella from Mardi Gras could do as a like-for-like replacement. Once the portable bonfires have created the necessary fog, we’ll stride in and make our selections - Cheltenham-en-Ariege.
Right, I’m off to find a race radio commentary site on the internet…..
A bientot.