Reasons To Be Cheerful.....(and one or two to groan about)

Spring Is Here | Time to Unwrap Badminton

The first week of March brings more promise, inspiration and a buzz back to my life. I feel like a sleepy bear awakening from slumber, but probably look more like a hedgehog!

The UK eventing season is imminent and I'm champing at the bit! And apart from the re-insurgence of exchanging blows views with Mark Phillips, albeit via his column in Horse & Hound and my blog, due to the sheer volume of air miles we are collectively racking up, this first week of March sees two other great milestones.

Badminton Horse Trials entries have closed, and that means we'll very shortly know the extent of the foreign invasion beach-heading in Gloucestershire in preparation for London 2012. The second great milestone is the launch of Apple's iPad 2, a major leap forward from the first iteration and very nearly perfect as a laptop replacement.