Ach, I keep forgetting that you get State or even City holidays. I shd
remember, as in the UK there are differences between Scotland, Northern
Ireland and England/Wales, but these are only a few. Most things here are
rather all-wide.
The thing about actually going into bookies offices is interesting - an old
guy I know called Barry was talking to me the other day - he's a very
practised expert on the turf, but he's never gone into a bookies' in his
life - his wife, Joan, who doesn't bet, always does it for him. He'd be
scared to go in one.
(I'm a non gambler myself btw)
Ah but the poems hiding there! Yes, one of my great admirations is for those
parts of Middlemarch which describe both the horse-trading circuit and the
bar-room billiards ambience. That, I've always thought, for a middle-class
Victorian woman, despite the novel's faults, was an extraordinary
achievement.
Best
Dave
David Bircumshaw
Leicester, England
Home Page
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www.paintstuff.20m.com/index.htm
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Jill Jones" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 07, 2001 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: THE SWING IS ON
> > I must say there has to be a bizarre kind of hope for a country that
has a
> > public holiday for a horse race.
> >
> > Best
> >
> > Dave
>
>
> If only, Dave. Melburnians (or maybe Victorians, not clear on that) get
the day
> off but all of Australia 'stops for the Cup' when it's run in the
afternoon
> it's true - which includes workplaces. And the office sweep rules - even
though
> that kind of betting, as a general rule, is illegal. Mine win on Ethereal
was a
> genuine TAB bet, put on for me by my nearest and dearest as I have only
entered
> a TAB once in my life and took about a quarter on an hour to place my
meagre
> bet. There are other poets more well-versed in the betting scene than me,
> more's the pity. I reckon there'd be lots of good poems there.
>
> Best,
> Jill
>
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