The races were on the Saturday and the preparation for it started on the Friday including - fake tans, last minute shopping for fascinators, bobby pins, stockings and food and booze. There was also an afternoon of watching girlie movies while we painted our nails and baked muffins. It may not have been the most exciting first day in London for Sophie but gave us a good chance to catch up.
After sleeping in my rollers to make my hair curly we were up bright and early to head over to Shea and Vanessa's flat (a.k.a K10)for a Champagne breakfast for Ness's birthday and more time for all the girls to put their finishing touches on their outfits, hair etc. A friend of mine Laura is a Mac make up artist so she came round a few of the girls got their make up done. I arrived feeling pretty average as I was wearing track pants and curlers in my hair but when the door was opened by Jen in her shorts and t-shirt and the lounge roomed filled with girls with their hair in rags I felt much much better.
We drank champagne and Malibu punch while we all put our finishing touches on. The rest of the Topdeck crew joined us a bit later in the day and we all tucked into a champagne breakfast with savoury muffins, pancakes and fruit before packing our picnics and heading off to the train. The queues for tickets were horrendous and the train was packed but we got there in the end. Right into the middle of a torrential rainfall.
As we got off the train we had to high-tail undercover because it was bucketing down - good ol' English weather. We waited for about 10 minutes before deciding we were going to power on - put up our brollies and make our way into the racecourse. Luckily for us the sun came out just as we were walking into the venue.
The best thing about English events is they usually let you take in some food and alcohol. With Ascot the rule was that you could take 4 cans of cider or 1 bottle of wine each as long as you had a substantial picnic. Which means all of your food and drinks for the day are taken care of! Once we got in we found a spot on the hill and sat down for our picnic. As most of us didn't have picnic rugs we ended up sitting on plastic garbage bags - still that is all you need to keep your bum dry! We soon got down to what we do best - eat, drink and chat!
The crowd behind us started making a lot of noise and we were wondering why and as we got up someone told us it was the Queen! So we ran up the hill and stood on our tippy toes and saw the Queen in her Carriage as she rode past and did her special little wave. It is the first time I had seen Royalty up close so I was super excited!
The rest of the day was spent hanging out on the hill and just drinking and hanging out. I put a bet on the Australian horse that was running but didn't have much luck. My friend Emily put a £4 bet on a random horse with the number 13 and ended up winning £90! Lucky girl! Half way through the day the rain bucketed down and we had to run for cover under our umbrellas or down near the bar. I created a make-shift poncho out of one of the rubbish bags.
We survived the second downpour relatively unscarred (hair and make up wise of course) so we continued on drinking! There was a band playing in an undercover marquee so after we headed down there for a bit of a dance before heading back to the train at the end of the day.
Very fun day out and a great first event to take Sophie to. It was also a fun way to celebrate Vanessa's birthday as she was away from the Topdeck crew last year so we had to have a big one to make her feel special!
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