Pony and Trap

We were having a Sunday afternoon walk around part of the parkland at Balbirnie. The house itself is now a rather posh hotel, but the grounds are owned by the local council and there’s a golf course there too of course, well it is Fife so there’s always a golf course nearby.

Walking down the hotel driveway I heard this pony and trap long before I saw it, it wasn’t the clip-clopping which I heard though it was jangling bells.

I think it must be something to do with the hotel, maybe they pick up some guests from the railway station, to give them a Victorian experience. Anyway it was a nice sight but it did remind me of that Jane Austen spin off comedy which I saw at the flicks fairly recently, Austenland. No surprises that the film wasn’t up for any BAFTA awards as it was just a bit of light silliness, but I was pleased to see that Cate Blanchett got a BAFTA for her work in Blue Jasmine which I think was the only other film which I saw last year.

6 thoughts on “Pony and Trap

  1. Very cool! I want to see Austenland, but it’ll have to be on a plane. Bud would never sit still for it. Barely got him to watch Blue Jasmine (he HATES Woody Allen) but Cate was fabulous. Again. Always!

    We used to see all the Best Picture contenders before the Oscars, but since they widened the field, we just can’t manage. I’ve been out of town every other week since the beginning of the new year.

    Did see quite a few, though – American Hustle, Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Phillips and Gravity (which was my favorite.) We’ll see Philomena this Wednesday, before I leave again. Wanted to see 12 Years a Slave, but it had already left town. Have to be in the proper frame of mind for the really serious/depressing ones.

    Gutted at Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death. Russell Brand has written a couple of good pieces about addiction…he makes sense, but I just can’t get my head around it.

    • Pearl,
      Jack did watch Austenland but he was not impressed, it’s a chick flick I suppose but a silly good laugh. I haven’t seen anything this year, I thought that 12 Years a Slave sounded too depressing. I suppose that something must have gone wrong in Hoffman’s life for him to relapse like that, but it looked like everything was going so well for him.

      • Russell Brand (?…!) has written a couple of really telling essays on the curse of addiction. Tragic. Just tragic – such talent wasted.

        Saw Philomena last night. Made me want to whack a nun. Dench did her usual fabulous job, although she played Philomena a little old. She’s still alive and was only about 64 at the time – Dench played her nearer her current age of 80, I think. Still worth a watch.

        • Pearl,
          I think I must have a non addictive personality, I can’t understand why anyone would be drawn into it when they know the consequences – crazy.
          I’m not sure that I fancy seeing Philomena, none of these RC things are news to me. Growing up in the 60s in the west of Scotland I knew all about girls having their babies taken from them and sold by the RC church, it was seen as normal. The RC parents were even terrified of nuns so what hope was there for the children!

  2. Oh, how fun! It is always startling to me to see horses out in ‘normal’ traffic. I saw a young girl riding a house down the street on my way home today and it was a jarring sight.
    I have the DVD of Austenland checked out from the library and hope to get to it soon.

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