A nation holds it's breath. And across the ditch (which is fairly a wide expanse of Ocean), another nation holds it's breath. Yes, today was Melbourne Cup Day. Never has one horse race enthralled so many people. I can remember (yes some of the grey matter still works in little fits and bursts) when we lived in Melbourne, and the famed Flemington Racecourse, where the Melbourne Cup is held, was only a couple of streets away. In Melbourne, Melbourne Cup Day is a Public Holiday - is there anywhere else in the world where a horse race is cause for a Public Holiday? One year we decided to attend the Melbourne Cup. I can even remember the outfit I wore. Prior to living in Melbourne, a horse race was ho hum, dum de dum. But there is something magical about the Melbourne Cup. I never attended it again. Mainly because do you know what it is like to be of short stature, to be in the stands (and they are called the stands I presume because you have to stand), and then to have a little lady start telling you that she feels faint, right at the crucial moment of the race. The one and only time I attended the Melbourne Cup, I did not see it to completion.
Subsequent years we had a much better idea. Watch it on TV. However before the race we would always start the day with a Champagne BBQ Breakfast. nibbles and then a BBQ Lunch, followed after the race by a BBQ Dinner - if we were still standing that is. Remember this wasn't last year, but a few millenium ago.
Now I have moved from one end of the spectrum to the other. Oh is it Melbourne Cup Day? Working at home on your own, you are not asked to participate in Sweepstakes or celebratory BBQs. So what do you do? You make your own fun.
Here is my horse, who is racing every which way but the right way
Finally he gave up and just wanted to have a sleep
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