DION AND SARAH SETTLE IN

Oh to be young again! Young and care-free with the urge to travel and explore. That is exactly the position that my son Dion and his girlfriend Sarah find themselves in at the moment and good luck to them. I envy them both.

Dion and Sarah took off for the U.K. at the beginning of March, to enjoy a working holiday and see how things are done in racing on the other side of the world. They have both settled into a unit at Newmarket and are both working in leading stables there. Dion is working for Peter Chapel-Hyam while Sarah is at the stables of Michael Jarvis. Both stables have a team of between 120 and 150 horses and I can say that having done the same trip some 30 years ago, they are both in for the time of their lives. There is no substitute for experience and there is no place in the world quite like the English racing scene to gain some.

I am in regular contact with them and apart from the shock of the cold weather when they first arrived, they both appear to be happy and settled in their new positions. Both Dion and Sarah are planning to work their way through Europe with the next stop being Ireland and then on to France and maybe Italy.

I have to say it is all a bit different than when I did the trip back in 1979. Back then the only form of communication with those back home was by letter or if you could afford it, a phone call. There was no such thing as mobile phones. Well if there was it was only for the well to do. Now it is much cheaper to make phone calls, everyone has a mobile phone in their pocket, most people have access to the Internet for emails (so old fashion now) and most of the youth of today all communicate via some medium called "FACE BOOK" All a bit to technical for me I'm afraid!

Seriously though, I am sure that both Dion and Sarah are in for the time of their lives and will have plenty of stories to tell in their yet to be acquired "pommy accents" when they get home!