The Melbourne Cup...

Today in Australia we had the horse race which has been described as the 'race that stops a nation'...because many people stop what they are doing (even at work in some cases) to watch the race on TV. The Melbourne Cup is run in the capital of the state of Victoria at a racecourse called Flemington. Victorians get a public holiday on Cup Day but not the rest of Australia. It is a very big social occasion at Flemington where fashions and MONEY are important.

People pay big sums of money to drink champers and nibble chicken sandwiches in carparks...yes carparks! The people who are in the grandstands and the flat in front of the grandstands pay even bigger sums of money but at least they can see the track in real life, not on a giant TV screen.

Then there are Melbourne Cup functions all over the country where people come together for lunch, a little flutter perhaps (Aussie for betting on the races) or at the very least, buy tickets in the 'Sweeps', hoping you will draw the winning horse, and of course watch the race on TV. Today, being the first Cup Day since I retired, DH and I joined a group of friends at a Bowls Club for a function.

It was very well organised and we had lots of fun. The horses we got in the sweep didn't do much good though! Six out of the 7 years I was at my last workplace, I won the sweep...so it's time to let other people have a go.