Still Smiling
November 9, 2007
Hello Possums. I had a brilliant day at The Oaks yesterday. I left home at 9.30 in the morning and didn’t get home until midnight! I have uploaded some photos as promised and you can access these via the Flickr link to the right. I’ll leave it there for a couple of days. Now, let me just quickly share some funny incidents and two lovely compliments I received during the day.
The train was filled with people on their way to the races dressed up in splendid fashion. A group of young men stood in the doorway ahead of me. I admired the way one of the young men had groomed himself, and in particular the way he had shaped his beard. I was admiring its neatness and how perfectly it suited his face, when I noticed he had quite lovely lips. He caught my eye for a moment and smiled shyly. When he smiled I noticed that on his teeth he had braces…
Later I was talking to an older woman on the station platform at Flemington. We were both waiting with tickets for our friends. A different group of young men were also waiting quite close to us. They seemed younger and louder than the sophisticated group on the train. We both agreed that although Oaks Day was traditionally Ladies Day, there seemed to be very large number of men arriving. I don’t mind the eye candy, said she. I laughed. Just at that moment one of the louder ones received a text. Reading it he said, Hey I just got a text from my grandmother…
I spent most of the day in our reserved area with three girlfriends. A group of three men in their mid forties joined us at our table after race four. They were very chatty. We shared tips for the races, rounds of drinks and some great conversation. After a couple of hours of this, one of them said to me, You are the youngest person I have met in ages! I found that slightly incredulous.
What? You haven’t met anyone younger than forty-three for awhile? I queried.
No, I don’t mean in age, I mean in outlook to life…
At a bar in Southbank afterwards we danced with a group of young men from Brisbane and their mate from England. The one from England bounded up to me, introduced himself and inquired as to whether I’d been to The Oaks (as you do). I motioned to my hat (a dead give-away) and replied that we had. But told him it was more difficult to tell whether he’d been because he wasn’t wearing one. He said, may I borrow yours? He put it on and we laughed. After a little while he put it back on my head and said, I wish I could look half as good in a hat as you do…
Later in the night I was dancing to ‘You’re the One That I Want’ with one of the Brissie boys. He dipped me so low that not only my hat fell off, but the beads fell off from around my neck. As if that wasn’t funny enough, he picked the items up with a flourish and dramatically replaced them onto me as though it was part of our dance. Neither of us skipped a beat. But I was laughing. There were few onlookers laughing as well…
Pleased you had such a great day. I loved the photos. Great outfit, Bindi.
Bindi,
Your hat looks marvellous as does your dress and cool necklace. Your photographs were fun to look through and you look happy and beautiful. I’m not surprised that you met up some interesting guys… you are young and fun. I loved hearing about how your necklace and hat fell off as you danced. It sounds as if you had a wonderful time!
Hi Charlotte, thank you! The weather was also perfect, which adds to the enjoyment. And getting a table in one of the reserved areas saved my feet. I still had plenty left for dancing after the races.
Hi Kate. Yes, it was a very happy day. I did say that I would focus more on the horses last year than this year, but I forgot to mention them in my post. I tried to use my father’s betting system. When it failed me and I was down a fair bit, I threw caution to the wind and backed a couple of horses on whims (eg Marjorie because that’s my mum’s cousin’s name and other random reasons. Another example is Sensational Toy – say no more), anyway I did have a big win on race six and this brought me about ten dollars in front. Overall I lost to the tune of two dollars! Pretty good for a day’s entertainment, I thought. One of the blokes on our table came out very in front. I think next year my system will be find someone who knows what theyre doing and copy them!
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[...] of you not from Australia). In those Florence heels last year I went the distance at the races and danced the night away. Not this year. I had two invitations from two different groups of girlfriends to party on. One [...]