Saturday May 14

S couldn't make it to monthly breakfast with us so we went without her - just so she would know we were thinking of her. We met Mouse there and took her a present - Pearl - since we didn't want to leave her home alone with cat cookies on the floor because that would mean all the cookies would be gone very quickly - and probably none of them into the cats' tummies. She was being left behind because we had received passes for the Members Area at Doomben Race Track (Thanks M & L) - where the winning mare, Black Caviar, was racing. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure it was a good news story (and the cynic in me wonders how much the Queensland Government put up front to make this happen) - something to brighten the mood of Queensland following a very ordinary (and tragic) start to the year with flooding and cyclones. Sometimes, spirits just need to be lifted. And certainly there were a lot of people at the race track this afternoon who seemed to be in good spirits. The people we sat next to in the "food court" -which is not usually there but offered a range of options for hungry racegoers - were saying they were down from Bowen and while they would have come down to visit their son, the real reason they were there was to see Black Caviar. The atmosphere was amazing and we talked about whether this was what it must have been like early last century when people went to see the legendary racehorse Phar Lap. Except for a couple of minor hiccups, including not actually initially getting into the Members Area or back up into the Stands (the way was blocked by lots and lots of other racegoers) to see the big race run and not having mutton sandwiches, it was a good day.
Afterwards, we had arranged to meet S and A in West End in Brisbane, at a little Greek restaurant. It was good to see them again - was it only last week that we had seen S? - and, as always, it's like there's been no interval at all. S is back down this way tomorrow to do a 40km walk - which would take me the better part of a week rather than just a Sunday. This means her training is going well. After dinner she was going home to pack her supplies for the day's walk to make sure she had enough energy to get up the hills!
Then there was the drive home back to Latimers. It wasn't incredibly late but, and I can't speak for the others here, I was a bit on the tired side and it was good to stay awake with a game of "how many songs can you think of with 'love' in them?". There are actually a fair few and while we weren't coming up with titles constantly, it did keep us going from Springwood to Nerang, The game originated from our checking of the countries who were through to the Eurovision finals. As well as listing the countries on the official website, they also listed the song titles (and probably everything you ever wanted to know about the contestants) - so ... what's love got to do with it? Every other song was about it (and then some!)