Melbourne Cup Day

Big piece of Steak for BBQ........check.

Bottle of good red wine............check.

Once-a-year-bets placed at the T.A.B.......Check.

Money for sweepstakes............ check

Mate's place to roll up to watch TV........check


We don't do Halloween in Australia, "Don't the kids get dressed up?"........"Nope".

However Australia has the Melbourne Cup where the whole nation seems to come to a standstill to watch a horse race. Instead of kids getting dressed up in silly costumes, women seem to get dressed up in silly hats.

I've pretty well got all the pre-requisites in order.

I went to the T.A.B (Totalizator Agency Board) which acts like a big betting pool with the government skimming a percentage off the top. Once again I at first did not know how to fill out the bloody betting slip...however I worked it out and have backed Mandela .....coz it has a pretty name. I witnessed a few other once-a-year punters doing the same deal.

Most businesses pretty well stop for the race for 15 mintutes and fire up again once the race is over. Apparently power companies get a big drop and then a spike every first Tuesday of November on Melbourne Cup Day due to factories powering down and then back up all at once. It's a little bit hard to deal with....or so I hear.

Anyway I'm off to enjoy a steak and a bottle of plonk at a mates house.....should be fun.

GO Mandela!

UPDATE: I lost ten bucks, Mandela came ninth!