It's Horse Race Day

It's Horse Race Day. Mandatory day off for all Victorians. It's also known as the Melbourne Cup Holiday - first Tuesday in November. It's bloody ridiculous. In my humble opinion. 

In the past, when I was a day-rate contractor, I rather resented the day, as it meant my pay packet would be out a couple of hundred dollars for the week. Currently, as I'm on a fixed term contract, it doesn't bother me as much. And work was great this year, giving the Melbourne Office a blanket day in lieu yesterday - so this has been a four day weekend. 

But other than the personal financial repercussions of horse race day, it's not a day which sits well with me Never has. Never will. 

I've never been to a horse race. To be frank, I find the whole premise of sending sentient animals around a track til their lungs bleed, whipping them all the way, giving the poor horse half a chance of ending up in a knackery as a cruel activity of parchochial means. 

Juice Media puts it frankly:

It's a day which glorifies gambling. I'll own up to putting a couple of dollars into the office sweep over the years, but that's as involved as I get with this. Absolute minimum participation.

I'll front up to a barbeque on the day, normally as a means to catch up with friends. Will I watch the race - no - why would I? It's not something I agree with - I don't see the point. 

It's also a day which talks up drinking. There's some pretty nasty statistics out there about how Horse Race day is also a day of heighted domestic violence, drunkeness, hospital admissions, car accident and the like. Like why would you want to get on board with that?

Okay, Horse Race Day is just not for me. Am I saying ban it? No. But like a lot of things which people don't agree with on an ethical level - things like abortion and assisted suicide - just because I don't agree  with horse racing it doesn't mean I'm going to stop people from participating.

In the case of Horse Race Day, I've never seen the point of it and it's never sat well with me. 

But it won't stop me from heading over to my bubble buddy's place for a barbeque lunch.

The one good thing about today - odds on, Horse Race day often has crappy weather - blowing a gale, raining - just terrible. Well, it's 29 outside at the moment, sunny, with a breeze. It feels quite nice knowing the one year that NOBODY is going to be trackside, getting munted in the car park, puking in the rose bushes as Flemington. It's a pleasant irony. 

Today's Song: