Melbourne Cup

G'Day people. I will go ahead and dedicate this blog entry to Bob, my most loyal fan and an avid reader of the discussion forum (as well as the blog itself of course)!

How about that Melbourne Cup! To be honest, when I moved to Australia, I had no clue what this event was, but as we got closer to the date, everyone started talking about it. It is a horse race that has been said to "stop the nation". That, it did. This race, inaugurated as early as in 1861, is held every year on the first Tuesday of November in (surprise) Melbourne at 3pm. In the state of Victoria, the whole day is a holiday. In New South Wales, where the undersigned happens to reside, most people take half the day off and go watch the race. Although I could not really care less about horse racing and am not a gypsy either, this one was a must so we bought tickets to the Royal Randwick Racecourse here in Sydney, where some local races were held and the main event was shown from a big screen. There is a s***load of betting involved in this happening, and I must admit I took part of that too. My money went on "Viewed", which was supposed to be the favorite, but instead, a total upset took place and a horse called "Shocking" won the whole thing…

This is also the one day even the Aussies forget about their "relax mate" mentality and royally dress up. This, however, does not necessarily compensate for their drunk-driven behavior, which, according to my theory, is in the veins of all British descendants. Mind you though, the women at the racecourse were mostly stunning. What made it even more stunning, in the exact meaning of that word, was that it was over 35 degrees and sunny that day. A perfect day to wear a black suit, I can tell you that. Although I fully enjoyed the day, it was literally like being in a sauna.

The Halloween party also came and went thereby completing my alcohol-rich weekend. We went out on Friday at noon for our annual "team bonding" afternoon with the people from work, and as you can imagine, an open tab is something you don't say no to afterwards. We went to a great Japanese restaurant in North Sydney first (where you literally get food thrown at you!) and then continued to a local pub…and on…Saturday - after surviving a horrible hangover - it was time to hit the road again. The Halloween party hosted by some friends was held near Bondi Beach and was, once again (!), a costume party. I am not too opposed to those in general, but over here it seems like there are more costume parties than normal shindigs! Anyways, the theme being rock n' roll or something remotely related to music, I hired a Fonzie-influenced costume from the Happy Days era. These guys must also have more understanding neighbors than we do because I could hear the noise blocks away as I was approaching their flat. Props to the girls though, they had put in a lot of effort renting karaoke and smoke machines and whatnot. The Norwegians' (feat. Miku and Mike) Backstreet Boys performance was truly the cherry on a Sunday…or Saturday in this case.

Partying aside, the school is pretty much over for me…for good. I have only to finish one last paired assignment on Monday and go sit through an open book exam on November 20th. Then I am officially a Master of Logistics Management, and I need to start looking for a graduation cap ;) Work, on the other hand, will go on full throttle until the very end (16th of December). As far as making decisions about returning to Oz in January or not, I still have no idea. I suggest we have a few drinks first in Helsinki and decide afterwards. NEXT UP: The Country Party in the bush of New South Wales…near Braidwood. We will most likely take off for that tomorrow afternoon, load up with groceries and booze and get the party going. Far too many wonderful people have had to cancel due to university workload before the exam period (PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!) but the (around) dozen of us going, we will therefore have even more to drink.

As usual, check out the pics from Halloween party and Melbourne Cup. I will add some more after our party in the bush. Bob, I hope you are pleased with this entry. It was tailor-made for you. This time I will close with a remark related to the UEFA Champions League. Having lived in Lyon back in the days, it was most enjoyable to witness "Les Lyonnais" basically eliminating Liverpool from the race early this morning! QUI NE SAUTE PAS N'EST PAS LYONNAIS! (check out any scoreboard for more information)

Cheers people,