people – Page 7 – Brave New World of Blogging

Park along the sea….

….leave the car and see where the path leads.

Which is exactly what I did one Sunday morning with some friends. We ambled along the pathway, together with so many other people, ambling along the pathway.

Well that is not strictly true 😀 Not everyone was ambling .

Some were running, 🏃seriously running, heads down, ear phones blocking out the world, bodies sweating, apparently oblivious of the everything around them. 🏃Others were cycling with a similar intent. Although I did wonder if their real 🚴‍purpose was to run over anyone who didn’t move out of their way, quick smart. (what happened to the idea of shared paths?)

Back to ambling though.

Some ambled with their dogs 🐩; and I found myself once more marvelling at how similar owners and dogs often were. Which begs the question who grew like the other? Will I get to look like Coco – alert, furry, handsome, happy or will she get to look like me? Not particularly alert, thinning in the hair and handsome departments. But happy 😜.

I digress. Back to the ambling.

Some ambled with their coffees. Whether it was the taste, the look or habit I cannot say, but there was a nonchalance about holding the throw away cup that yelled ‘modern’ ‘ melbourne’ ‘me’. I can’t help wondering how many trees, or lack of trees our ambling coffees are responsible for, and how do non coffee drinkers survive without this appendage.

And many just ambled, heads up, gazing around, feeling the breeze, the salt air, the energy, the sheer joy of a Sunday morning walk along the beach.

And just a suddenly, the path ’empties’ and for a moment or two, I felt like we were the only people there.

It wasn’t a bright hot day, rather a ‘moody’ day, not cold, just walking temperature.

And sitting watching the boats, the dogs, the children, the people drinking coffee kind of day.

Melbourne continues to sparkle and I am lucky to all it home. 16473056_1471529779532789_3497523470928225458_n 16387023_1471529826199451_4743361376156134292_n 14581371_1354995131186255_6228501265048689890_n 14705740_1354995157852919_9030106100732425510_n

16507982_1471529939532773_4519356715645878266_n 16508762_1471529972866103_2978817541568107372_n 16508674_1471529872866113_6499306378886135039_n 16426218_1471530132866087_3185688926845497369_n 16427581_1471530066199427_3245799386127660054_n 16473201_1471530026199431_6679604142065924586_n

Time with friends

Such a special time with friends from so long ago. Time marches forward to a rhythm that isn’t always of our choosing, so when the opportunity arises to suspend ‘life’ and savour the memories and the present, why wouldn’t I?

This was such an occasion.

14595791_1354279991257769_1237962339134419059_n — Quaint and

14705740_1354995157852919_9030106100732425510_n — beautiful

14581371_1354995131186255_6228501265048689890_n — Veldrif

14590278_1354279834591118_3735459179472790313_n — Beginning to look like Greece

14732304_1354279881257780_6099778843590569933_n — with charm

14907638_1354279787924456_1815189789669744211_n — and some money

14907274_1355238847828550_850349225646376243_n — Die Kaapse Doktor ( very strong wind for those non S Africans)

14908381_1355238904495211_5424873010844872949_n-1 — waai

14908381_1355238904495211_5424873010844872949_n — very hard 🙂 🙂

14907147_1354995124519589_1324096139414207771_n — Saldana Slipway Restaurant

14906868_1354279687924466_3048909715081671178_n — with food and views

14713627_1354279914591110_6356370182434925695_n — to captivate

Flemington

When the weather is kind to us, Flemington is a joy.

And without the crowds (120 000+)that assemble for the ‘big races’ it has a charm that makes a day at the races a treat to be savoured.

Note the Shergar Green

Race colours

Dressed in our finery, we drive through the gates like royalty, being waved through because we have all the ‘right’ stickers; a privilege bestowed upon members at this exclusive racing club. That Kate has a horse racing today is an added bonus.

We walk along the path marked with every Melbourne Cup winner and year beginning with the first race run here in 1861!!!!! This in itself was fascinating, and never possible on the big race days because there are so many people there. Today, though, we had the walk to ourselves and could read at our leisure, Makybe Diva (2003, 2004, 2005), Zulu (1881), Russia (1946). I wonder at horses’ names; like “Neville left me” – does the horse care I ask myself.

The roses are no longer out and still the grounds are beautiful, groomed and nurtured with such loving care, they could almost be horses.

Because these horses are treated like Royalty.

They are so loved and nurtured and cared for that I wonder if those who say this is a cruel sport have ever been to the stables, or been involved with horses in any way. Have they ever seen how the strappers, and jockeys and trainers and owners Know their animals. Every sign, quirk, like, dislike and know instantly if the horse is unwell or unhappy.

And we move into the members rooms : food, drink, elegant (and not so elegant) people, banks of TVs with races being televised from all over the country, Flemington is not enough, there is Randwick and Adelaide and Brisbane and Bendigo and and….

Heads down pouring over form books, so many seem to know exactly what they are doing.

Me?

Do I know what I am doing; of course not.

Does that spoil the day for me; of course not.

I people watch, and eavesdrop and love every minute of it.

And after they have poured over the form, they place their bets (or not, depending on what the form ‘tells’ them. And I watch them reap the rewards of this study. Sometimes handsome, sometimes lean. And then I discover that they chose their horses because today they were picking ‘French names’ or ‘colours’ or ‘countries’ and I suppose that too, is a ‘form’. With equal chance of success 🙂 🙂

Race 3: That’s ‘our race’ and now even I look at the form book and open my wallet. It is so exciting to go into the mounting yard, hear the trainer and jockey and owners talk strategy;

the track is a 2 (a 2? what’s that mean – good. Good But hard. There’s a But to Good? Apparently so)

stick to the inside;

swing out; hold back; let go.

Everyone listens intently nodding; me I listen, but of course I cannot nod – what do I know 🙂 🙂

It is so exciting to have a vested interest in the race – even if ‘by proxy’. But while Tavi Bay won at The Oaks, today is not her day.

We gather in the owners lounge, eat our sandwiches and drink our champagne as the race is rerun on the banks of TV, not once, twice, no about twenty times. And everyone watches it – again and again.

Are they hoping the result may change if they watch often enough; studying the form; seeking how they could have run it differently, or dreaming of what could have been? The post mortem continues; the track was too hard; it didn’t give everyone equal opportunity; why didn’t they water it; if we hand’t run last week….