Happy horse holiday!

Melbn strikes again. There’s this holiday, see, and it’s all about a horse race. A **horse race!**  The rest of the country doesn’t celebrate this holiday. Hardly anyone else cares, really, since it happens in Melbourne and it’s called the Melbourne Cup. Everyone here gets the day off, presumably to go to the races. I went to the park, and signed up for a membership at Video Ezy (something hitherto considered impossible for a dirty foreigner like me).

And wait – here’s the best part. This race and associated holiday happens on a Tuesday! This means that no one shows up for work on Monday. What a brilliant plan. Four-day weekends galore. Doing anything approaching real work where the participation of another company is required is just plain impossible on Monday.

I’m told that people bet on these horses, and the jockey who rides the winning horse gets lots of money and a cup. The horse that did all the work gets a nice blanket and some oats. Hmm.

The day being clear

The sky being bright

He came up on the left

Like a streak of light

Like a drunken fuck

On a Saturday night

Up came the Bottle of Smoke

According to my friend Mica, it’s never sunny on Cup Day. Today was the first time in recent memory that it was sunny and warm for Cup Day. Actually, today was the first time in recent memory that it was sunny and warm, full stop. It got up to around 25c or so, and I went out and got a sunburn on my bald head. I read more of Little, Big by John Crowley (why doesn’t Readings have a good, Amazon-style linking feature? Grr.) and basically had a nice day in the park, without worrying too much about which horse jockey won the big prize.

Twenty fucking five to one

Me gambling days are done

I bet on a horse called the Bottle of Smoke

And my horse won

Actually, I know who won. I did. I got a membership out of Video Ezy. I’d been trying for months to get that. I finally found a nice person who would bend the rules about what constitutes “proper” identification…

Lyrics from Bottle of Smoke by the Pogues

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