Grand Final Weekend

We drove down to Lakes last Thursday in a gale. We stopped for a customary picnic lunch (Subway bought in Traralgon) in our park a little west of Rosedale where I love to admire the wonderful old contorted red gum tree. We could hardly get out the car as the wind was fierce and rain poured as we drove in. I hung around till it eased so doggies could have a wee and a stretch while Lib and Rob left first in the I30. Gord and I were in the Kangoo laden with whippy snippers, ladder and tools as well as the dogs and eskies.

The power was off at the house due to the storm when we arrived but was soon restored. We did a little shop and watched the news before a roast dinner to celebrate the 4 of us eating together, not a common thing since Rob moved out. The house swayed on its pylons as the wind blew strong well into the night and the sea roared in the distance.

The dogs locked in the laundry below woke me whining and yipping at 5.45am as dawn showed itself. It's Pip that makes the noise, Snow would wait in patient silence. I fed and released them and read my book for a couple of hours before getting Lib breakfast. The book, 'The Reprieve' by Jean Paul Sartre was one I took home from the Lakes house when I was last there a couple of months ago. I wanted to finish it to so that I could leave it this time. It was a book I found difficult to read and I was so distracted by so many things over those weeks that I couldn't really warm to it. It was set over about 4 days in 1938 in France as the powers of the day met to decide on war or peace over the territorial dispute in Czechoslovakia. It followed the tensions of French citizens in a highly charged expectation of war and mobilization. It did capture something of the mood of the day but would have stronger meaning to someone who lived through that time I'm sure. The title 'The Reprieve' was so because peace won the day, which was short lived of course as we know. I think the book explored the human emotions in the expectation of war, the excitement and hysteria it provokes and the almost self fulfilling momentum that builds with it. I must ask Maria about it. I don't think I quite got it.

As if by magician's wand the wind had stopped and the sea was calm as a lake. The day, Friday, was warm, sunny and still and Gord and I cut all the grass. Saturday the gale returned and blew angrily all day. We had a barbecued whole schnapper for lunch with salad which was the highlight of the day. Regretably Hawthorn won the premiership, as if you didn't know, which capped off what was a miserable year's AFL footy for me.

Sunday the magician was at work again and the weather was still and perfect. I did some painting and tied up a section of side fence that was nearly collapsed by the gale and slashed some ti tree which had grown on the steep bank behind the house with the metal blade on the whipper. I washed the Kangoo, tied the ladder on the roof rack and packed in the tools and Gord and Rob drove home in it Sunday arvo. Lib and I stayed on with the dogs and came home yesterday after cleaning the house, leaving at 11am and reaching Gembrook at 2.30pm with a stop at Tyers, this time tavelling the back way from Myrtlebank to Moe.

A good weekend except for the footy result but who cares anyway. Sadly I had hard luck punting story. Lib, who usually does not participate, asked me to put trifectas on numbers 2,3 and 5. I did, at Caulfield and Coleraine. I'd asked her what number to substitute if there was a scratching, she said 8. I was using Rob's laptop which I was unfamiliar with as there was no mouse making me awkward and slow and a little impatient. In race 2 at Coleraine number 5 was a scratching, so I substituted 8. Not knowing where to put 8, either in numerical sequence or in place of 5, I did both, at fifty cents each, which is what I put on trifectas. At least I thought I did. Number 2 won at 50/1 and the numbers 2,8,3 paid $4800 for $1, so my collect for 50 cents should have been $2400........ BUT......... when I checked I had taken 2,3,8 and 2,5,8. I had mistakenly taken the scratched horse in my haste.* No Collect.

The mad wind thrashed again last night when we got home. The power went out and was off all day. It's calm outside now. The forecast is again for gales tomorrow. Weird weather, even for spring. to change so quickly and often.

* I make a correction (3 OCT). After thinking about this lying in bed it occurred to me that you shouldn't be able to back a scratched horse so I tried to today and you can't. My recollection is that 10 minutes after the race, when I checked my account to see how much I had won, I had two trifectas on that race one of which included the scratched horse as I mentioned above. When I check now I only had one, 2 3 8. Maybe I looked at race 3 immediately under which includes the number 5 which was the scratched horse in R2, or details on my account changed which would be outright fraud and most unlikely. In any case it is still a hard luck story as I intended and thought I had taken the winning combo. Sorry if this bores or confuses but I had to get this down before now forgetting about it.