Clondaw Robin Blog – July 2026
The blog is late this month because I have been busy watching the World Cup. We don’t have an actual television in the field, but I directed the other horses to erect an elaborate system of mirrors so that we could get it from any nearby location with one. It worked pretty well, because we did not have to put up with the inane pundits that the television companies assembled. I really did not know that humans like to have their intelligence insulted, but now that I do, it is something that I am happy to put much more effort into. Godot and Birdman Bob went back up to the yard to watch the semi-finals and final and I think that is something that is now added to their personal “things I regret doing” list. We did have a sweepstake on the tournament. I drew Cape Verde, who are my sort of team according to Backinforglory, becoming legends for the way in which they failed to win any games before being knocked out. That is where she is wrong of course, as I see myself more as the Belgium of Shovelstrode. Anyway, the sweepstake was won by Girl Of Gold. As a relative newcomer, she was one of the last to draw her team, so the rest of us only have ourselves to blame by not taking a cheaty peek and ensuring that Spain did not get that far. First prize was three bales of hay, so it was really worth winning.
The excitement was so great that we could not resist organising sweepstakes on various other events. The Tour De France (I got Tadej Pogacar!), Wimbledon (none of us got the winners), the world U20 rugby championship (I got South Africa!) and who will win the men’s and women’s pole vault at the Commonwealth Games. That one we had to do by country as it is impossible to find out who is competing, but I am not confident in my ticket with Gabon for the men and Singapore for the women. The Gabonese men’s record was set in 1981 and the Singapore women’s record of 3.91 metres is over a metre behind the Commonwealth record. Still, can’t win them all…and when failure looks inevitable I can always swap my ticket for Privatearing’s when he is not looking.
{Failure already looks inevitable and your solution does not come over as entirely fair – Ed?}
It might seem that way, but he would not cope with the pressure of being close to winning, so I am doing it for the good of his mental health. Why is it always left to me to think of these things?
This month’s question comes from James Prescott Joule of Sale, after whom the unit of energy is named.
Mr Joule showing what he thinks about Clondaw Robin’s approach to the pole vault sweepstake.
Given that he was able to accurately measure a scale of heat as energy, i.e. how much work is required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree, his question comes over as bordering on the daft. He wants to know how horses cope with the temperature when we have a heatwave. I thought that everyone knew this. We teach it to foals when they are about three months old. The answer is that we have invented our own, much simplified scale of temperature. It is as follows:
-1 I am retiring to my stable with five rugs and will probably never emerge again.
0 In the stable and a couple of rugs will be fine, just make sure my water doesn’t freeze.
1 Happy to be indoors, but wouldn’t mind a spin round a paddock for an hour, although you need to be alert in case I want to come in earlier.
2 Perfect, I can have no complaints (but will have one or two minor issues to raise).
3 A tad warm, but not worth the effort of walking over to the corner of the field where the shade is.
4 I probably won’t mind running, but can it be local so I am not in the horsebox for long.
5 We have not escaped from the field, you just need to search through the trees to find us.
So it is clear that Mr Joule got it wrong, in that heat and energy are more matters of perception than actual measurements. A basic error, really. Following on from this, next month I will prove that the hectare does not exist. Spoiler alert – how can a hectare be a standard size when the length of the grass within it is variable?