The Melbourne Cup horse race Tomorrow

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"The horse race that stops a nation" tomorrow in Melbourne  . All the big racing stables there . Probably an international horse will win .(Dunaden , Americain are the favourites)

 

Maybe Dermot Weld (Ire) or Cumani stable, or the Dubai bunch . An excuse for boozy cup parties . Not really my scene.  Maybe the local  Aussie  elderly" cups king " Bart Cummings will win with Zabeellonaire.

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I am going to a charity lunch in support of African Leaf which supports children in war zones.  Have less interest in the race outcome than ever but will probably get a little excited when I get my sweep horse.

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Well The Brit. stables will really be trying  to win with Prince Charles & Camiila at the  Flemington track . Camillla to present the prize to the Emirates Melbourne Cup winner.

 

Ooh theres Camilla & Charles talking  the Brit. jockey Brian Moore riding Mt. Athos for the Cumani stable - just a bit of pressure on him!

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"Green Moon " imported horse & Aussie stable beat the internationals!

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Hooray, got Green Moon in the sweep, won $50 so was able to make another donation to the kids. Thanks Green Moon.

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Great hope I got just a 4th with Kelini  & think the bookies had a field day.

 

It was strange field, heavy weights on better horses & were 7 & 8 year olds. Are you an Aussie?  I am in Sydney so large now with 5 million people.

 

Sounds like you had a good luncheon then. I do worry about charities as to how much actually gets through to the deserving people & how much sticks with administration "fees".

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Hi Arafura, thought you may be in the NT because of your name.  I am in SEQ.

 

Agree totally re the charity risk but African Leaf is a small charity & I know all involved well.  They actually announced yesterday that they do not need any more individual child sponsors at the moment as they have met their capacity so are allocating funds to teacher training.  Their main focus is on education, which I think brings the greatest hope of change.

 

It wasn't a typical race that's for sure, although Green Moon's people always seemed to be confident.  It was a completely girly pick for me as this time I had no factual sense of the field, so went with the name.

 

Doing my chores today with US election coverage on ABC 24.

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HI ihope , Queensland is growing that's for sure . No my avatar is Arafurapearl as we travelled around Australia a couple of times by road . I particularly had a good  time in Broome .The Kimberly is amazing . Also an Aunt lived for 23 years in New Guinea so I have a soft spot for "the Tropics ." If your charity is small sounds good . My son works  for a call centre who does a lot of fund raising for charities e.g. The Red Cross( where he runs the commuter network  ).I know a lot goes out in "Fees".

 

I am watching  the U.S.  elections on 9  looks like Obama will be the victor   as the analysis I read here indicated ,& looks like Obama will hold Florida, after all it's very Spanish. Romney 's wife has that 'stepford wife" look . I used to be from a conservative  ( liberal )background here , but my son is doing a lot of work for the Greens here ,so I support him & he is going to stand for the  local council elections in 2016 .Nice to meet another Aussie on this forum . 

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I have a step son in Broome, the final decision on the gas project will make a big difference to the area, hope it doesn't destroy the Broomeness.

 

I am a greeny, although I worked in senior management in corporate Australia for 25 years, so yay for your son.  We are not supposed to voice political opinions but am very happy for the US & the rest of the world.

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Are you retired ? Yes Broome has a delicate ecological balance, with the whales & dolphins ,& aboriginal land, but I think the Woodside gas project will go ahead . We're driven down past Port Hedland & Karratha . W.A is  far from the East Coast . i have a cousin in Perth whose hubby was a CEO for a  mining company, till he got kicked off by some Newcrest guy, but no doubt with a golden handshake .

 

In Queensland we have driven as far as Cooktown a couple of times & got eaten alive by sandflies at 1770/ Agnes Waters .Beautiful Mission beach has been ruined by Cyclone Yasi. Queensland is not very good with dogs in towns e.g. Tully & Atherton &  we travel with our dog , also not good with dogs outside cafes  in fact dog intolerant even though cafes in Noosa were losing money by banning dogs, from outside seating

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Do you have children ? We are empty Nester's & run an airbnb in an inner city location & are heavily booked &  so meet plenty of people ......

 

 

 

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Not retired, mid-life career changer.  Now completing a Masters in Public Health & trying to secure a clinical place to become a registered dietician, (highly competitive business).  Our children also largely independent, (not entirely financially).

 

Have also been to Cooktown & FNQ but not for a few years.  We are ex-Sydney siders but my DH aspires to a more rural lifestyle so we are looking for property in the hinterland of SEQ & northern NSW. SEQ is full of immigrants from other states.  Don't think I could live further north, just too hot.

 

It sounds as though you have covered a few kms & seen more of our country than many. I'm glad your business is doing well, that must be a challenge sometimes with withdrawal to deal with.

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Oh The hobby farm thing . Northern NSW is attractive i like Byron but that's pretty hot too .  Apparently theres no work around Coffs etc but a few people have avocado farms etc My hubby is  of Dutch heritage but came here when he was 3 & grew up in a country town & he would  prefer to live in the country , but i am a city girl .He's the intellectual type, but practical.We have somewhat different interests. He's more Science & VERY  mathematical.

Yes everyone is moving  to SEQ as property is cheaper there than Sydney which is through the roof these days., though there is land tax so some are getting out of property I quite liked Perugian & have a cousin at Buderim & another in Brissy. We stayed at Yandina for a while everyone was pretty rough but was interesting as  we couldn't get the dog in at Noosa

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I can understand the mid life career change- if we REALLY knew what we wanted to do then we would do it. For instanceI wouldn't mind living in a ski resort , & skiing while I am still young enough,as I like the adrenalin rush that speed gives  My hubby would prefer to sail but I get seasick & we  have the dog to consider ,Anyway we'll  do  the airbnb for a few more months into April new year. . I have a degree, my daughter & her partner both met in law school . She has a law  honours degree from Sydney University her  hubby got down to the  last 4 people for a  Rhodes scholarship & is 6ft 2 and an ex rower . One of our sons studied studied psychology, the other is in IT ( the Greens One ). & 2  are financially independent with good jobs .The youngest son has just moved to Melbourne  & inherited, as did my  other children from my fat he,r but he does need to get a job at least P/T. . We live in high density Darlinghurst but  have lived all over Sydney . I like Newtown where my elder son lives but Darlo. is prety cool too We have been invited  to a street party in December as we live in a sort of  cul de sac sac & people put on  good food so theres are  lots of reasons for staying  here  for awhile .  As far as travelling  around Oz goes ,well there are literally thousands of  people doing it & travelling for years, after a while one gets sick of looking at red dirt . We still have to travel Tassie & visit my cousin in Alice Springs. & see " the rock" but probably need a more expensive & more comfortable set up if we were to do it long term, it's one option, though & the dog can come with us,.

 

I hope your mid life career change goes well, it sure needs a  lot of thought .Which part of Sydney were you from North, South east or west ?I cold turned off xanax but am not the most stable person one could meet, fortunately my husband is  the very stable , very loyal type., though he has his own demons to come to terms with . 

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We lived in Bondi Junction & have quite a few friends in Bondi/ Bronte. Just too busy for us now. I like the city to visit & definitely don't want to live in woop woop.  If I could afford to, I would have 2 places, to get the best of both worlds.

 

In my 30s, I did a year as a bush lawyer in Bellingen, just inland of Coffs, very pretty but too claustrophobic.

 

My first degrees are in law & corporate finance but don't really miss any of that.  You have a very talented family & sound as though you are high energy.

 

CT from Xanax sounds terrifying but you seem to be doing really well.

 

Great chatting with you.

 

 

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Bellingen is pretty nice but I agree quite small . i met the Dr in Coffs an American woman married to an Aussie  guy & she lives in Bellingen & thought Sydney is too" keeping up with the Joneses" which is pretty right . 

 

How did you end up on Benzos? I am actually from the south but went to Sceggs  Darlo.  with would you believe Pam Stephenson( married to Billy Connolly ) who was on Q & A the other night .Do you watch that?(- everyone watches the) Pam has had so much cosmetic surgery I almost died when I saw her .She's got some book out " vanished untruths  ". She announced that her children were Americans & of course she lives in NYC.

Anyway Billy is playing some character in the Hobbit- the King of the Dwarfs I think .

 

Great chatting to you too I don't  have a blog I'm a pretty shy sort of person  & can't imagine who could be interested, most people are Americans on the board anyway & in a different time zone , though it's run by a Brit.I guess am extroverted introvert .Anyway I'm off the benzos now.Good luck to you .

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I see now that you have been off since '09, are you completely free of withdrawals?  I am coming up to 3 months & mostly doing well but still have some bouts of benzo flu which has been my main problem since original withdrawal.  Have been on benzos twice, originally zopiclone, a sleep med for insomnia caused by tramadol which was prescribed for trigeminal neuralgia.  Came off that cold turkey as I didn't know any better & was very ill, so have mega respect for your cold turkey survival.

 

Ended up on Cipro, (a fluroquinolone), for an antibiotic resistant UTI, a couple of years ago & it kindled all my original bz wdwl sx, including very bad insomnia. Around the same time, my sister was on life support in a coma, my husband had 2 very serious illnesses, severed his carotid artery in an accident & developed an antibiotic resistant infection in his leg & as the last straw, my younger brother was killed in a MVA.

 

The doctor suggested valium to at least help me get some sleep & in my weakened state, I forgot about what a nightmare the sleep med had been. The valium did its job & I ended up staying on it for a few months instead of the week I had planned.  My CNS was obviously still very sensitive as I was unable to withdraw cold turkey again & had to taper & even that was quite disruptive to my health.

 

Thankfully, it's mostly in the past now.

 

That's interesting about Pam, i don't really think of her as an Aussie these days.  I do watch Q&A fairly religiously, although it's always better when there are not too many politicians on.

 

The Uk forum connection explains the time zone on the board, which I could never reconcile with the USA.

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Yes, nausea vertigo, staggering etc lasted about a month,but I don't get to sleep easily  & wake up a lot. I've always been a worrier though. I did take antidep., tricyclics sinequan in the eighties & xanax & these actually stabilised me out but they make one  feel flattened out somehow-  I  got off them without hassles then but have never slept well since .I got back onto Xanax after my father died in 2006 & my daughter who is pretty manipulative became the  executor & was a large beneficiary & bought herself a house worth over a million dollars at Petersham .I shall never trust her again & don't baby sit at all.

 

My husband has a loner type  personality, which doesn't help me to cope & despite his high intelligence has always lacked ambition & immerses himself in computer games, for hours on end .He used to work for a multimillionaire  wealthy Jewish  Bellevue Hill Dr writing computer programmess for medical systems , then left & had a couple of other computer programming  jobs & got retrenched in the GFC in 2009 . Luckily we had some property & can survive & my son put us on to airbnb, Sometimes I would like to just sell everything as one of our" guests "had down & just travel continually .

 

Your situation sounds extremely difficult to cope with . My husband has a had trigeminal neuralgia a couple of times & says it is very painful & that pain killers did not work for him .  (Tramadol for shingles absolutely wiped me out, I can"t take it ).Mu Hubby has  also has  also had leg infections - been hospitalised for  cellulitus 4 times & on intravenous antibiotics for 10 days at a time ,  & had to be treated by an infectious diseases specialist in RPA.. (StV.s is not as good ).He has got some  lymph damage in his leg now ,from the bacterial infection(has had the cellulitus it in both legs ). The infection got in through cracks caused by tinea so he has to be vigilant at keeping any tinea away He also also shouldn't  have a sedentary job anymore .He's 58

 

I saw a program on antibiotic resistant bacteria - very scary .My  sons girlfriend got bilharzia ( a parasite )in SEA when a student traveller which lay dormant in her system for  years  & then made her very sick indeed , & it took the Dr's ages to work out what it was she had after  2 operations for intestinal cysts  & she had to leave work & was on painkillers for years, &.her aunt a medical professor at RWH & UNSW thought she was  a malingerer till schisamatosis was detected. One thing worth  being in Sydney is prompt medical attention is close at hand if needed, & generally of a high quality.

 

I am an only child  so next thing to siblings were friends who were only children themselves, but not really the same thing.

 

Welli  Ihope, hope to chat again ciao Ara