The first Tuesday of November is a big day for Australians. It's Melbourne Cup Day, the biggest horse race of the year. It's nicknamed "the race that stops time" because everyone literally drops everything for it. It's a public holiday in Melbourne. The rest of Oz will usually finish work at lunch time, then proceed to drink their faces off for the next several hours, taking a time out for ten minutes at three o'clock to watch the big race. As the Aussies love to bet, everyone puts down big money on their horse of choice. There were betting stations set up in Martin Place (one of the main squares in the CBD) and in the morning before work they were all getting their bets in.
It's also typical for people to get quite dressed up. Men wear fancy suits, ladies their best dresses and the all important fastenator. My co-worker Shannon made me one to wear to work. There were about five of us wearing headpieces.
We didn't get the afternoon off for the cup, but our clients did! This meant in the afternoon we had all of four clients! There were a few more booked in but they either cancelled or were too drunk to show up.
I went to The Argyle in The Rocks for drinks after work with some of the girls. It was still packed and we ran into many people who had been drinking for hours. Sure there were some awkward moments in the office this morning...
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