You don't have to be MAD to work here but it helps

Martha's going through a pink and blue phase. She has blue breeches, all manner of pink and blue t-shirts, a pink and blue air-cushioned whip and she's just bought herself a new hat silk to replace her old pink one and, yes, you've guessed it, it's pink and blue.

It's a very snazzy silk with her initials sewn on the back. As her middle name is Amelia, we've had no end of amusement at the fact that her monogram is MAD. Appropriate up to a point and she fits right in with the rest of us down on the funny farm. This morning I even caught her riding out in shorts. Fortunately she has not followed John's example completely and worn wellies, but if she did, they'd almost certainly be pink and blue. As it was Sunday and none of the team are expected to ride out on Sunday, it's typical of Martha's commitment and determination to be a jockey that she took By Storm, who runs on Wednesday and has a date at Tattersalls on Thursday, out for a little spin to stretch her legs.

John and I almost always go out for a ride on a Sunday morning and it's bliss as hardly anyone else is out. This morning we returned to the scene of our victory at last night's pétanque tournament as we crossed the Severals. In a marvellous evening of Anglo-French relations organised by Camilla (sporting fetching green beret), les grenouilles outnumbered les rosbifs 6 1/2 to 4 1/2 (as our hostess was born in France to British parents) and we somehow worked it out so that each team managed to win a round despite some lively arguing between the ultra-serious Francis and Julien, both self-proclaimed experts in the sport.

Emma Candy (right) gets my vote for sneakiest player of the evening, pretending never to have picked up a boule in her life but then adopting the 'Candy Crouch' to lob one in right next to the cochonet. Francis's sister Christine was pretty handy and, rather surprisingly, so was my husband. Jamie definitely wins the prize for tallest and most stylish beret wearer.

The combination of Pimms and Pastis left a slightly woolly head this morning but I will certainly be engaging in some furious practising before I take on my namesake again. The only thing missing was Andrej the noisy Ukrainian, but I fear he would definitely fall into the bouligan category, so he's best left in Fethard organising Coolmore's ad camapign.