Book of Charm

Today is the first Tuesday in November, which means it the Melbourne Cup. That's a horse race. It calls itself The Race That Stops A Nation, although I'm not sure the rest of the nation takes it quite as seriously as Victoria. It's a public holiday for most of the state. Not the City by the Sea, where we get a day off for a local horse race in May instead. But that's okay, because if you're not at the race course (which is not my cup of tea anyway), the best place to be is at work so you can down tools for twenty minutes and have afternoon tea while you watch the race.

I don't work on Wednesdays, but Jenny/NA organised office sweeps last week, so I was there in spirit. I had a ticket each in her two dollar and five dollar sweeps, so I knew which horses to barrack for when my mother and I watched it this afternoon. And what do you know? I didn't win anything. My two horses were fourteenth and twenty-first. So that's my gambling over for the year, unsuccessfully.

My boss's wife's nephew rode the horse that came second, though, so I imagine he (my boss, that is) had a winning bet.