Fascinating....

Yesterday was Melbourne Cup day, which is pretty much the Australian equivalent of the combination of gold medal hockey game in the olympics and the prom. It's known as The Race that Stops the Nation. Part of it is because Australians are degenerate gamblers who will bet on anything for which odds can be calculated. But mostly, it is a reason to get cleaned up in your Sunday best and be seen.  Guys rock suits and girls get all dolled up in fancy dresses and crap in their hair. I'm referring of course to "fascinators" which are these contraptions usually made of feathers and lace that women feel compelled to attach to their heads. The clever name may be derived from the fact that you "fasten" these things to your head, or maybe because they are designed to catch the attention of males of the species and fascinate them in an effort to better their chances of reproducing. Or maybe I'm thinking about peacocks. 

In any case, I think it's fascinating to imagine that if a prominent Australian started wearing dog collars around her neck, all the birds would be wearing them by the new year. But I guess that's just fashion.  Speaking of birds, it is also fascinating to note that despite all the apparatuses resembling birds nests that women were so happily wearing in their hair, I never once saw a bird trying to make itself at home in one of them.  No to worry though; I hear fascinators are out and hats are in (I suppose we have the royal wedding to thank for that one), so next year they'll all be rocking trilby's, fedoras and pork pie hats.

Of course I had so much exposure to these fascinators (not a bare head as far as the eye could see) because I was right in the heart of the action at Brisbane's Eagle Farm Racecourse.  My company's social club took part in this lawn party that the racecourse was putting on which involved buffet lunch and all the booze you could consume. They had local races on, and of course screens showing the other races that were happening in the country, including the great Melbourne Cup which was a 3200 meter racwinn which 24 horses race for the prize of about $4 million.

Needless to say it was a fairly loose day full of piss (beer) and punting (gambling). I only bet on 3 races and didn't win anything but my boss picked the winner of the Cup and won some beans.   From there a few of us went out for dinner and I jumped on a train bound for Goldie around 9 pm. 

Unfortunately Tara wasn't able to come, as Tuesday is her busy day at school and she couldn't get out of it. The Race that Stops the Nation apparently doesn't stop academia. If Tara and I hadn't had supper with my boss and colleague when we first arrived, I think people would start to question whether or not I actually have a wife or if I just made it up. But we have a Christmas party coming up at the beginning of December that we can go to and I can show off my awesome wife to all my work mates. Everyone is dying to meet her. 

This next tidbit is more amazing than fascinating...Halloween was the other day. This fact may be obvious to you people in North America, but in a country like Australia where Halloween isn't really celebrated, I would have been surprised to see even a handful of trick- or-treaters. I was amazed to find TONNES of them!  And houses done up like haunted houses!  I haven't seen this much effort or participation in Halloween for a very long time. But I think this phenomenon may have been focused locally on the Gold Coast, or maybe even just to Azzurra Island, because my work mates said that they didn't see many trick-or-treaters in their neighborhoods in Brizzy.  And if they did, they would have turned the hose on them.