Rubbing shoulders with the British Royal family should have been more than sufficient reason to act with a degree of decorum. After all, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were only a stone’s throw away. I was at Royal Ascot, in my best suit, shirt and tie looking, if I do say so myself, rather dapper. As a COVID-19 test event, the usual attendance levels had been reduced by around seventy-five percent, thus eliminating the usual carnage associated with getting a drink at the bar, sitting down anywhere, and accessing the toilets. Owing to a simple case of being in the right place at the right time and being able to commit to the digital transfer of a ticket I was soon taking my coronavirus pre-screening tests and studying the form. The latter observation is stretching the point somewhat as I normally choose the name of a horse that resonates with what I’m currently thinking about or has a tenuous connection with a speedway rider or club.
Having been to Ascot races many times and also policed the event, I was more than aware of the symbiotic association of the event with alcohol. As a cop in the early 1980s, the drinking culture was rife and I had come to regard the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol as part of the landscape. I can recall, as a twenty-something rookie, controlling the traffic at the horse crossing proximate to a clubhouse. It was a boiling hot summer’s day and the kind bar staff kept leaving me a cold refreshing beer hidden behind a bush. Come the end of the event I was significantly happier than at the commencement of my tour of duty. Many years later it dawned on me that I had been charged with the safety of some of the most valuable horses on the planet whilst half-cut.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
CAMBODIA: GENERATION HOPE.
American writer and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck concluded,“People don’t take trips… trips take people.
A TIME TO DIE...
The venerable Aston Martin DBS makes a shock exit
CHEESE-BURGER & SALAD
The latest Vette has split personalities with a performance overlap
TARGET. DESTROYED.
AUDI’S R8 HITS ITS HEADY RED-LINE FOR THE LAST TIME
THE LAST MOTORSPORT FRONTIER THE DAKAR RALLY
“It’s absolutely f***ing wild… you train all year for it… you need to totally dedicate yourself to it; and that’s if you just want to finish.
THE ART OF BEING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH MATT BROMLEY
It’s a bright Monday morning at Long Beach in Kommetjie, a small coastal village located in Cape Town on the southern tip of South Africa. The water is bustling with a crowd of surfers jockeying for the playful waves breaking over ash-white sand.
ACTRESS BRINDA DIXIT'S SECRETS
ON HOW TO LAND YOURSELF A LEADING LADY!
BRO'MANCE! THE BEST CO-OP GAMES TO PLAY
Put away your single-player RPGs cause these eight co-op video games are perfect for jamming with your man!
THE SIX WORST GAMES-TO-MOVIE ADAPTATIONS EVER!
With the recent release of The Last of Us, the shackles of bad video game to live action adaptations has been firmly shattered, proving that in the right hands a great video game can become a great series or movie. However, this is a very rare case indeed, as numerous attempts to bring a video game to the screen have been attempted and most of them have failed spectacularly. Here are six of the worst offenders when it comes to bad video game adaptations.
SCREEN TIME WHAT TO WATCH THIS MONTH
Take a break, sit back, put your feet up and enjoy some of our latest entertainment choices to help you escape the everyday things! Come on, you know you want to!