Please forgive me, its been a week since I last posted... and its been a hectic week to say the least... as you can see, Autumn has come to Massie Lodge.
First up .... Stallion Road Test.... Yes, a new roadtest is up for your consideration. This time I have picked a boy by my least favourite sire but with a dam line that is very rich in black type, winners and a nice colonial family to boot. This bloke has a very, very reasonable service fee, produces winners (stakes winners as well!) and is very unpopular with the market. He himself was not an outstanding racehorse, although he was trained by Freedman and won his maiden, but can he produce racehorses? Yes he can. Can he produce stock that can go through the sales? Yes he can. Can he produce nice types with plentiful bone and substance? Yes he can. This fella also seems to like mares by Sprightly Night/Anchor In/ Mister Kwila ... however he doesnt seem to get many mares to him at all. We went and had a look/see when he moved to Gowrie Mountain and we both liked what we saw. Interested yet?
Monday...
Was my birthday and what a lovely day it was.... After being taken out for a scrumptous lunch with lots of bubbles and a chocolate cake made by Evan.
Tuesday...
Work day.... talk about a food fest.... I was given a morning tea by the gang at work and then taken out to lunch by the girls - talk about spoilt.
Please note that Iam omitting all the rude and nasty customers that I came across during my work days... otherwise that would be all I would be writing about!
Wednesday...
Work day and yet another morning tea for one of the guys who was retiring... no wonder my clothes are feeling tighter. AAAArgh!
Thursday ...
Woken up by the dulcet tones of big road crunching machinery out the front at 6.30am. Not happy Jan. For some reason I am running late (lol) and I come to an abrupt halt at the entrance to Massie Lodge, mainly because I would need a large 4WD vehicle to get out of the driveway.
So, I take a deep breath and see if I can find a logical solution so that I can get on my way to work (the minutes are ticking away!). Hmmm. Unless I want to get new tires, axles etc. Iam not going to get out of the driveaway. The gentleman in the large piece of road flatening machinery drives pasts me and waves. I wave back and point to the huge ledge I have to jump to get onto the road. He ignores me and keep driving....
I take another deep breath and keep searching for a solution to my predicament.
It's now 10 minutes past 8 and Iam starting to get hugely agitated because I cant get out of my driveway!
I turn off the engine, take off my seat belt and go and talk to the man in the huge tractor thingy who is just sitting there staring at me.
"Be calm Helen..... be calm...... be civil (?) ....... be calm......"
I cant be calm.
In my nicest calmest voice that I can muster I ask the man how am I supposed to get out of my driveway.
"I dont know...."
"You dont know?"
"Ah, No..."
"Dont you think common sense would of prevailed when making this mess?" I said.
"Listen lady...." I lost it at "Listen lady....".
"Listen lady, this is for the betterment of Willowvale Road.... YOU are going to benefit from this work on the road - not me..."
"Yes I understand how wonderful and enriched my life will become once you have finished these roadworks. In the meantime, how the hell am I to get out of my driveway?"
"If you turn right and do a U-ey .... you should be fine....".
"Ok, we live just before the bend in the road.... If someone comes flying around the bend at 100kph on this gravel do you think that they will be able to see me, let alone stop in time?"
"Aw, I dont know....."
"Do you know anything? .... Friggin unreal...." I said and stormed off.
Finally I got out of my driveway and I looked at the clock in the car it was now 8.30am. Half way to Allora I was flagged down and told to stop for roadworks that were happeneing. This took 15mins.
I had to stop for petrol....
I finally got on my way again at 9am and am happily motoring along the New England Highway until East Greenmount. More Roadworks. This time its a 10 min stop at a red light with no oncoming traffic.
AAAArgh!!!!!!!!
Not to mention that I was caught in a line of traffic afterwards that topped a speed of 70kms all the rest of the way to Toowoomba.
I wont tell you what time I actually made it in to work. It was very late, even by my standards!
During the morning I thought that I would make someone elses day just as good as mine and rang Warwick Council and had a little word in the ear of the Works Supervisor for roadworks. Iam sure that I did not make his day with that phone call, but I can tell you I felt much better after doing it!
See I can be a reasonable person!
lol
Friday....
Joey and Gracie leave Massie Lodge to go back to Paul Nipperess at Toowoomba. It seems the issue of not being able to get track workers has finally driven Paul to sell his home and move back to Ballina. I guess the final straw would be standing around at Toowoomba with 2 horses in hand for 3 hours waiting for someone to ride them. I dont blame Paul at all. Iam sad that it came to this as he is very good with the horses. Jockeys/trackwork riders seem to be a breed of their own.... I can tell you that Iam not impressed either with the lack of support from the Toowoomba Turf Club and Queensland Racing with this problem. It's a real disgrace.
If you are in the clique then you are looked after. If you are a new trainer to the district or just a small guy, the amount of help they seem to offer is very little or none.
Since TeeCee has had his bandages removed and is jumping out of his skin in his new paddock, Evan and I have been considering our next move with him. Perhaps a trip to Ballina is on the cards for the big guy? Hmmm. Something to think about.
Well enough for today....
Helen.
First up .... Stallion Road Test.... Yes, a new roadtest is up for your consideration. This time I have picked a boy by my least favourite sire but with a dam line that is very rich in black type, winners and a nice colonial family to boot. This bloke has a very, very reasonable service fee, produces winners (stakes winners as well!) and is very unpopular with the market. He himself was not an outstanding racehorse, although he was trained by Freedman and won his maiden, but can he produce racehorses? Yes he can. Can he produce stock that can go through the sales? Yes he can. Can he produce nice types with plentiful bone and substance? Yes he can. This fella also seems to like mares by Sprightly Night/Anchor In/ Mister Kwila ... however he doesnt seem to get many mares to him at all. We went and had a look/see when he moved to Gowrie Mountain and we both liked what we saw. Interested yet?
Monday...
Was my birthday and what a lovely day it was.... After being taken out for a scrumptous lunch with lots of bubbles and a chocolate cake made by Evan.
Tuesday...
Work day.... talk about a food fest.... I was given a morning tea by the gang at work and then taken out to lunch by the girls - talk about spoilt.
Please note that Iam omitting all the rude and nasty customers that I came across during my work days... otherwise that would be all I would be writing about!
Wednesday...
Work day and yet another morning tea for one of the guys who was retiring... no wonder my clothes are feeling tighter. AAAArgh!
Thursday ...
Woken up by the dulcet tones of big road crunching machinery out the front at 6.30am. Not happy Jan. For some reason I am running late (lol) and I come to an abrupt halt at the entrance to Massie Lodge, mainly because I would need a large 4WD vehicle to get out of the driveway.
So, I take a deep breath and see if I can find a logical solution so that I can get on my way to work (the minutes are ticking away!). Hmmm. Unless I want to get new tires, axles etc. Iam not going to get out of the driveaway. The gentleman in the large piece of road flatening machinery drives pasts me and waves. I wave back and point to the huge ledge I have to jump to get onto the road. He ignores me and keep driving....
I take another deep breath and keep searching for a solution to my predicament.
It's now 10 minutes past 8 and Iam starting to get hugely agitated because I cant get out of my driveway!
I turn off the engine, take off my seat belt and go and talk to the man in the huge tractor thingy who is just sitting there staring at me.
"Be calm Helen..... be calm...... be civil (?) ....... be calm......"
I cant be calm.
In my nicest calmest voice that I can muster I ask the man how am I supposed to get out of my driveway.
"I dont know...."
"You dont know?"
"Ah, No..."
"Dont you think common sense would of prevailed when making this mess?" I said.
"Listen lady...." I lost it at "Listen lady....".
"Listen lady, this is for the betterment of Willowvale Road.... YOU are going to benefit from this work on the road - not me..."
"Yes I understand how wonderful and enriched my life will become once you have finished these roadworks. In the meantime, how the hell am I to get out of my driveway?"
"If you turn right and do a U-ey .... you should be fine....".
"Ok, we live just before the bend in the road.... If someone comes flying around the bend at 100kph on this gravel do you think that they will be able to see me, let alone stop in time?"
"Aw, I dont know....."
"Do you know anything? .... Friggin unreal...." I said and stormed off.
Finally I got out of my driveway and I looked at the clock in the car it was now 8.30am. Half way to Allora I was flagged down and told to stop for roadworks that were happeneing. This took 15mins.
I had to stop for petrol....
I finally got on my way again at 9am and am happily motoring along the New England Highway until East Greenmount. More Roadworks. This time its a 10 min stop at a red light with no oncoming traffic.
AAAArgh!!!!!!!!
Not to mention that I was caught in a line of traffic afterwards that topped a speed of 70kms all the rest of the way to Toowoomba.
I wont tell you what time I actually made it in to work. It was very late, even by my standards!
During the morning I thought that I would make someone elses day just as good as mine and rang Warwick Council and had a little word in the ear of the Works Supervisor for roadworks. Iam sure that I did not make his day with that phone call, but I can tell you I felt much better after doing it!
See I can be a reasonable person!
lol
Friday....
Joey and Gracie leave Massie Lodge to go back to Paul Nipperess at Toowoomba. It seems the issue of not being able to get track workers has finally driven Paul to sell his home and move back to Ballina. I guess the final straw would be standing around at Toowoomba with 2 horses in hand for 3 hours waiting for someone to ride them. I dont blame Paul at all. Iam sad that it came to this as he is very good with the horses. Jockeys/trackwork riders seem to be a breed of their own.... I can tell you that Iam not impressed either with the lack of support from the Toowoomba Turf Club and Queensland Racing with this problem. It's a real disgrace.
If you are in the clique then you are looked after. If you are a new trainer to the district or just a small guy, the amount of help they seem to offer is very little or none.
Since TeeCee has had his bandages removed and is jumping out of his skin in his new paddock, Evan and I have been considering our next move with him. Perhaps a trip to Ballina is on the cards for the big guy? Hmmm. Something to think about.
Well enough for today....
Helen.
No comments:
Post a Comment