RUN HORSY RUN

Today is Melbourne Cup Day. For those of you who are not Australian and haven't a clue about the significance of today let me explain. Its a big horse race with big prize money if you own the winning horse. Otherwise to the normal person in the street its a chance to blow a few dollars , get dressed up, wear stupid head gear and drink in the middle of the day. Even in my local supermarket, staff had discarded their normal uniforms in favour of " going to the races" attire. A couple of the younger underage staff were walking around with glasses of champagne. These were intended for their colleagues who were still actually working. Obviously, occupational health and safety rules and underage drinking rules don't exist on Melbourne Cup Day and you'd be a mug to comment!

Thanks to my current health crisis and the F.E.D's ongoing health crisis, for the first time ever I was actually not working on Melbourne Cup Day. Now if I had gotten my act together I would have organised to go to one of the many Melbourne Cup lunches in this town. But due to travelling up and down this state in recent times, it had somehow not happened. And to be perfectly honest (but don't tell anyone) I couldn't be bothered! Lucky because somehow I woke up this morning with the mother of all bad moods.

It all came about due to yet another night of insomnia. Its bad enough that my head is already full of medical woes, but come lights off in this house the midnight orchestra strikes up and sleeping becomes impossible. The freezer in the kitchen groans on and off all night. The dog laughs (not joking) in his sleep, my sleeping husband fights an army of intruders  and there is a bird with a death wish tweeting outside my window at 2am. Even the usual remedy of relocating to the couch to play candy crush did not work so well.

By late morning after purchasing a new (I'll try anything) pillow, I was starting to regret my lack of patriotism and my missed opportunity to party with the rest of the country. I rang the F.E.D who was on a walking mission nearby and we decided to join the masses at a local pub. Surrounded by women with elaborate hairdos and killer head gear we lasted ten minutes before escaping. It was just not our thing!

We ended up sitting in the car down at the local marina, watching the beautiful sparkling ocean and listening to the race on the radio. In honour of the occasion neither of us spoke till the end.We had absolutely no idea who was racing and nor did we care. It was a moment of rare peace and togetherness, in what had been a traumatic week. It was my  "win". Happy Melbourne Cup day to all and I hope you had a win too!