The Melbourne Cup

The Race That Stops a Nation!

The Three Handled Cup - "The Melbourne Cup"

For those of you who do not know, the Melbourne Cup is a horse race - a gruelling, staying marathon of 3,200 metres and, just as ANZAC Day falls every year on the 25th April - a day when we Australians honour our war dead, particularly our servicemen and women who made the supreme sacrifice - the Melbourne Cup falls on the First Tuesday in November - and both events are as quintessentially "Australian" as much as Meat Pies, Kangaroos and Holden cars!

First, a story:

Pat Bartley

October 26, 2010

HAVING a bet on the Melbourne Cup is an Australian rite of passage and whether it be $2 each-way or a ticket in an office sweep, the majority of Aussies will be trying to pick the Cup winner in a week's time.

In the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne a punter named Dave discovered he had an uncanny knack of picking the Cup winner, and his skill became something of a party trick each year at a friend's Cup-day barbecue.

Dave had no interest in racing or the punt, but each Cup eve he would sit down with the form guide. He didn't have a particular method for making his selection, he would just read the form and the comments for each runner and pick the horse that he thought stood out. On Cup day he'd have a $100 win bet on the horse.

Dave's winning streak was quite incredible and each year his friends would have a $50 win bet on Dave's selection.

He picked Rogan Josh in 1999, Brew in 2000, Ethereal in 2001, and Media Puzzle in 2002. He backed Makybe Diva in each of her three wins to extend his winning streak to seven.

On Cup eve 2006 one of Dave's mates called him around the time he was settling in to do the form. So as not to upset Dave's ritual, his mate asked him to call him back when he had made his selection.

Dave duly called back and told him he had selected Delta Blues.

His mate suggested that instead of having his usual $100 bet on Delta Blues he should up the stakes. After all, he had picked the previous seven Melbourne Cup winners and clearly was a master at assessing the race.

Dave asked how much he thought he should bet and was more than a little reticent when his friend suggested $1000.

However, he thought that since he didn't bet during the year and, in fact, spent about the same sort of money on football memberships and days in the Melbourne Cricket Club members each season, he could probably afford the splurge.

With the bet placed on the Japanese outsider, Dave headed to his friend's barbecue to watch the race.

The backyard cricket match was interrupted as the horses entered the barriers for the Cup and soon the loungeroom erupted as Delta Blues took the Cup at odds of $17.

As the revellers celebrated Dave's windfall, he ran outside to grab the ticket from his wallet, only to find that the wallet, along with mobile phones and cigarette lighters were missing from a table alongside the cricket stumps.

Across the yard sat a very sheepish-looking labrador ironically named ''Punter'' and in his mouth was the remains of Dave's wallet and a tote ticket chewed up beyond recognition.

His friends say Dave took a while to get over the loss and that he has never patted Punter since. And he didn't have a bet on the 2007 Cup.

Pat Bartley's new book, On the Punt, is published by Penguin, $19.95

Now, if you want to appear an expert on "The Cup", here is a Complete Reference

Oh!  and a List of past winners is located here!

Oh!  You want a tip for "The Cup" - well,

1. What?
Look for a stayer who can run the distance and is tried and proven over 3200 metres.
2. Trainers.
 A Trainer with a 'licence' on 'The Cup' is Bart Cummings - known as the Cups King as he has won the race a record 12 times.
3. Sex.
Entire horses and geldings feature well in Cup results and,
4. Weight.
Generally, middle or lightly weighted horses who can run the distance are preferred.  49 to 54kg is a good weighted mount.
5. Melbourne Cup winners Sex (last winner in brackets)
Entires - 65 (Shocking 2009)
Geldings - 49 (Efficient 2007)
Colts - 19 (Skipton, 1941)
Mares - 13 (Makybe Diva 2003-05)
Fillies - 3 (Sister Olive, 1921)
6. Number of words Winners
One word 83 (Viewed, 2008)
Two words 61 (Delta Blues, 2006)
Three-words 5 (Might And Power, 1997)

This year- I like Zipping, Jessicabeel, Precedence and Shocking (last years winner) and think they'll all be there at the finish. A 4 year old horse called 'So You Think', a Bart Cummings trained horse,  is the favourite but I think he's a bit young and may find the distance beyond him - this year, at least!

Driving 101 - extension

Wendy posted in Goodbye POS hello truck an image of her new truck and I wrote that I would post an image of my truck, known as "The Beast"!

Well, here it is:

Rodeo LT, 3.5L petrol with long-range tank, 5 speed manual (floor shift), limited slip differential, bullbar, driving lights, fog lights, electric (tow) braking control, HD rear suspension uplift, load levellers for tow vehicle, second battery in tray, lockable canopy with 3 windows, tow hitch, reversing cameras and 5inch vidscreen, 2-way radio - and .......... did I also mention climate control? LOL!

Happy driving Wendy - get out there and get that stink pot of yours weaving!

The Real Thing - some effects and figures

I have to use 'The Real Thing ' here for legal reasons but you know what the real thing is, don't you?

1. The Real Thing was first invented by a pharmacist name John Pemberton as a medicine to cure headaches.


2. The Real Thing go its name because of the original ingredients used in the medicine, Coca leaves and Kola seeds. Wine was also added in place of sugar similar to the coke we drink today.

3. When Mentos is added to the Real Thing, the carbon dioxide in the coke will be rapidly released, causing the coke in the bottle to burst out. Diet variety works the best.

4. The Real Thing can be used to help cure jellyfish stings.

5. The Real Thing  can also be used as a cleaning solution, cleaning anything from rusty pans to dirty toilets. It can also be used to remove odor.

6. If you accidentally got gum in your hair, rinse it in The Real Thing and the gum will come of very easily.

7. The Real Thing usually have the phrase “Original Formula” near the bottom of their cans/bottles, but it is not actually “original”, since in 1985, a portion of the sugar in The Real Thing was removed and replaced by high fructose corn syrup, causing an altered taste as well as causing the coke to become unhealthy.

8. The Real Thing was first green in colour.

9.It used to contain cannabis but in 1905 it was removed due to public concern.

10.The Real Thing 's name  means “to make mouth happy” in Chinese.

11.If you put T-bone steak in coke it will be gone in 2 days.

12.If all the The Real Thing bottles in the world were laid end to end they would reach the moon and back more than 1,677 times.

13.While someone was having a competition “who can drink the most coke in one go” they drank 8 bottles of The Real Thing  and died on the spot. This was because he had too much carbon dioxide and to less oxygen in his blood.

14.In many states highway patrols carry 2 gallons of The Real Thing  in the truck to remove blood from car accidents on the highway.

15.You can clean toilet by pouring a can of The Real Thing  down it and leaving it for 1 hour.

16.You can use it to help remove grease stains and loosen rusty bolts.

17.The name of the flavour base included in the secret formula for The Real Thing is referred to as 7X.

18. Only a few people know the secret formula for The Real Thing . Concentrate for The Real Thing is made in a number of centralised production facilities, and is exported to all countries in the world that bottle The Real Thing .

19. The Real Thing was invented on May 8, 1886 by Dr John Styth Pemberton, a pharmacist, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It first went on sale in Jacob's Pharmacy, Atlanta, Georgia.

20. The bottling rights for The Real Thing were sold for US$1.00 in the 1890's. The trademark, used in the marketplace since 1886, was registered with the US Patent Office on January 31, 1893 and the trademark 'Coke' was registered in 1945.

21. The Real Thing is the most recognised trademark, recognised by 94% of the world's population and is the most widely recognised word after "OK".

22. The type of print used for the The Real Thing logo is called "Spencerian Script".

23. Artist Haddon Sundblom's portraits for Christmas holiday advertisements, which began in the 1930's helped mould the image of a red-suited Santa Claus.

24. The Real Thing was first sold in Australia in 1937 and in New Zealand in 1939.

25. The Real Thing and the Olympics began their association in Amsterdam in the summer of 1928. That association has continued for all subsequent Games.

26. The 'diet' version was launched nationally in Australia in 1983. By the end of that year, it was already the second highest selling carbonated soft drink in Australia after The Real Thing .

27. The Real Thing corporate system has more than 500 brands available around the world and there are more than 1200 bottling plants around the world.

28. The first two countries to bottle The Real Thing after it was introduced in the United States were Cuba and Panama.

29. There are nearly 10,450 soft drinks of The Real Thing consumed every second of every day.

30. In its first year, servings of The Real Thing amounted to less than 10 a day. Today one billion servings are consumed every day!

31. If all The Real Thing ever produced were in regular sized bottles, there would be over 4 trillion bottles. If these were stacked on a football field the total would make a mountain over 325 miles high. This is more than 60 times taller than Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.

32. The Real Thing first came to Asia after the turn of the century when it was introduced in the Philippines. Local bottling operations began soon after in both the Philippines and China.

33. The longest distribution route is in Australia - 2,186 miles from Perth, Western Australia to the north of the state!

34. Although The Real Thing is enjoyed ice-cold around the world, in Hong Kong it is sometimes served hot as a remedy for colds!

35. If all The Real Thing ever produced were flowing over Niagra falls at its normal rate of 1.5 million gallons per second instead of water, the falls would flow for 38 hours and 46 minutes!

36.The Northern Territory has the highest per capita consumption rate of The Real Thing in the world - 529.7 for total Company products

Keyboarding 2 finger style

Had a little mishap in the kitchen, slicing bread with a razor sharp nice - Yes!  That's right, straight across the quick of my left index finger! Ouch!!!!!!  Blood everywhere (and I'm a 'bleeder' to boot).

Might have needed a suture or two but I don't have a great deal of confidence in the nurses at the local hospital - most would do an army surgeon in a Victorian-era Field Hospital credit, LOL! - and I knew they would not let me suture it myself, so had to make do with Band Aids (elastic adhesive strips to the non-Aussies) and a pressure bandage.

So please forgive any inadvertant 'typos'.

Saw John Gill's comment on Bag Packing and thought I must add this contribution:

"Bag packing groceries is a skill that approaches an art form. Everytime we go to the supermarket Rhonda always chooses her 'checkout  chickie' very carefully, afterall, she does not want her tins on top of her eggs or cream sponge. Its always an uncomfortable ride home if we get a change in 'checkout  chickie' as we wait in the queue and the atmosphere is like that akin to an approaching electric storm until we get home, unload the car, get the groceries sorted and stacked and put away in the order that suits her requirements.

I usually slink away and put the kettle on and meekly offer her a 'cuppa' to help ease the tension until all is set well in her groceries world. LOL!"

More Flowers

Some of the flowers growing around "The Camp"

Several colours of geraniums:



A  rose or two:

A white daisy (and soon to have a mauve daisy planted from a cutting)

A native bottlebrush flower:



My Iris blooms

We had a severe storm last night - actually it commenced yesterday afternoon, Rain squalls, high winds and cold. Wouldn't you know it, my Irises had just started to bloom - the yellow ones and the mauve and white ones on the sunny side of the house. There are more mauve ones on the other side of the house but they are still in bud swell.

Anyway, I thought I had better get some images of them before they were storm damaged.

"Minds in Chains"

On "Being Nuts" Part II

Warning - Images may be disturbing!


OK - You've been warned, continue to read on if you are prepared.



You know, we are (most of us, I think) very fortunate for the culture of care which surrounds the way we live. In my previous post I spoke of my own experiences of working in a psychiatric ward for over two decades. A colleague read that post and told me about some photographs in the Nikon-Walkley Press Photo Awards of mentally ill people being 'treated' in a Jakarta institution. These are not 'made up', 'posed' or in anyway contrived images.






Photo Essay - Finalist


"Minds in Chains"

The Yayasan Galuh Centre in Bekasi outside Jakarta. There is no medical treatment here, just potions, massage and prayer. Many of the patients are nude and nearly half of them are chained to poles.

A 12 foot Python is used to subdue unruly patients at the Yayasan Galuh Centre in Bekasi outside Jakarta.


Picture: Jason South, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald / Courtesy of the Nikon-Walkley Press Photo Awards

Photo Essay - Finalist