In deference to a couple of our very favourite bookmakers, we start by revealing where we were hiding when the storm broke after a late night Alarm Twitter frenzy and the promise of a lyric from Rhyl's finest. As it turned out the answers were a) Newcastle- an oasis of calm today whilst our colleagues down south were, unfortunately, suffering in the storms and b) In our car at around 5:30 when the lightning finally came as we were inching down Gosforth's version of Magnolia Lane which appeared to hit about 3 feet away. Scary times.
Simon joined us again and is still unfeasibly cheerful despite various CairnBet alarm calls starting with a 5. Or early 6 at a push. We'll soon batter that out of him. Simon and Steve were on the front line exchanging lyrics that will never see the light of day in this blog whilst I ended up directly behind them ensuring a day of having a view of my erstwhile colleagues rear ends which did little for my mood or energy levels, still sapped after 10 days of colds and chest infections.
Sandwiched between our friend Dave on one side, with his now ubiquitous lucky dips and Pinno who I've known for many years and many rounds of golf, only to discover today that he is as big a Big Country fan as I am. Our shared guilty pleasure, along with our shared wailing of Flame of the West and Where the Rose is Sown.
1) Yokohama and Cuban Tiger for a "quiet first race" max and it looked like we would get away with it as Sayedaty Sadaty was in control and very short in running. A rally and a neck defeat later we were off to a losing start. And I still was looking at a pair of backsides. I made a mental note to point out to Steve that I laid a tenner forecast that didn't come in. He likes it when I do that.
2) Prydwen got us back into the black in the 2nd though as it won cosily from another good result for us in Duke of Oxford. Small bogey Spartan Army 3rd and max bogey Max Vega was nowhere. We like a stress free win.
3) Small win on a favourite decimated by a place book containing the worst bogeys 2nd and 3rd. A result that did no harm nor good.
4) And another nothing result for us as, for the 2nd week running, the cumulous nimbi was our nemesis, as we won nowt on a relative outsider, Cloud Cover who beat our jackpot, Just A Spark who led until late on- and another one who was beaten from very short in running. A reverse swing in results if you like.
5) And, just like the Tuesday at Cheltenham, the tedium kept on coming as, yet again, another big result, yet again, hit odds on in running and yet again got nabbed by Leicester City's Fivethousandtoone. If we were playing the pools we'd be millionaires as the score draws kept piling up. Places were rotten.
6) Another odds on in running, another beaten by another nothing result. We were wallowing in shades of mediocrity and after spending the post Cheltenham period surrounded by antibiotics, oral steroids and inhalers, I was wishing I was homeward bound also. And, despite feeling miserable and barely seeing 8pm for a week and a half, spluttering myself through sleepless night after sleepless night, it was nothing compared to the acute and prolonged bout of seconditis we were enduring here. Expenses were still not covered and the prospect of a wage was fanciful. Places were rotten. Again.
7) We needed a skinner. We got one. To continue the Simon and Garfunkel reference, the sound of silence from the stands was as welcoming as it was surprising as 33/1 shot Talis Evolere got us the most unexpected wage in a long time. I could barely see the payout list below the clipboard.
Don't get me wrong- this was still no more than an ok wages day but, psychologically, it's easier to go home with wages won in the last than in the first, despite there being no difference in the p&l column overall.
Musselburgh tomorrow but, with family commitments, it'll be Monday at the earliest before the next sighting of the lesser spotted blog. And that's my Easter gift to you. Until then...