Cup Day

Yesterday was the day of The Race That Stops A Nation. For my non-Australian readers, it was the Melbourne Cup, an annual horse race that falls every year on the second Tuesday of November, is a public holiday in Melbourne, and is generally A Very Big Deal all across the country. I don’t really know why it’s such a big deal, but it is.

For us in Western Australia, the race itself actually runs a little after midday (3pm Over East), perfect timing for lunch – so at work we always organise a lunch to celebrate the event. Lunch always seems to be roast chicken and assorted nibbles – the nibbles vary (I had olives, coleslaw, pasta salad, sushi, crackers and cheese) but the chicken seems to be a staple. We all crowd into our staff room on top of the library and sit around watching the race on a big screen. Yesterday’s race was a bit of a nailbiter and it was good to hear the gasps and cheers as people watched the finish.

We also run ‘sweeps’ at our work (I think most workplaces do – the local rag even had a special pullout designed for use as a poster in the office, complete with horse names and riders’ colours and space to write down the names of the people who won first, second, and third prize). It’s the only time of the year that I gamble. How it works, is, for a dollar or two, you stick your hand in an envelope and pull out a horse’s name. If it wins you win some of the money in the envelope. The horse I drew was Mahtoum – was it still running when Delta Blues finished? (Congrats to Dee!)

Picture from The Australian.