A day at the races

Yesterday was my racing friends' annual Royal Ascot picnic and I'd procured a guest badge for the Buck's Club tent, where I was hoping to take my unreliable friend, Tubby, for tea. Tubby said he'd do his best to make it, however, he hadn't arrived by 1.20pm when some other friends invited me to their box watch the Queen arrive. I hadn't seen them since our lunch last summer at Deauville racecourse where we had enjoyed a most amusing day. They had brought their two sons and the girlfriend of one of them to Ascot and the six of us departed from the picnic. Off we went to the box via a quick glass of champagne in the White's Club tent and I explained to the girlfriend-less Boy that I had a spare badge for Buck's and that he would be most welcome to accompany me there for tea as Tubby had not turned up. The Boy said he would be delighted. At 2.30pm Tubby called me, asking where we should meet. "Buck's Club, after the third race," was my answer. I told The Boy that Tubby had arrived so he was not obliged to come to Buck's if he preferred to stay in the box. The Boy was crestfallen! "Of course I'm coming to Buck's!" he exclaimed, "We can get another guest badge for Tubby!" En route, I enquired gently about The Boy's girlfriend. He told me that he had not had a girlfriend but had been keen to get one and that a friend of his at Aberystwyth University had introduced him to a suitable candidate. He likes her very much and they have a common interest: Heavy Metal. "The only thing is," he said, "She's really into saving animals and is involved in dolphin and whale preservation work so I'm not sure that she approves of racing and didn't dare tell her I was coming here today. I said I was driving my Dad somewhere!"