Category: Family

The Beginning Of The End

Yesterday, in the morning, I visited Kirsten again, and her mum joined us. This was special since she was my math teacher in high school! Many funny and nostalgic stories were shared πŸ™‚

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I couldn’t stay for long since I had an important obligation: the horses! Yes my friends, the gambling continued with yet another track meet, this time at the Broadmeadow racecourse just a hop and skip from mum and dads.

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Bernard and I both managed to bet on losing horses in the first and second race. One of them only ran slightly better than another horse who’s jockey had fallen off!

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Following these two losses, I then did some brainstorming and developed a sure-fire winning technique! At this point, the money started rolling in…

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In a nutshell, here’s the method:
1) Pick 2 horses with middle-of-the-field place odds (not win, place)
2) Ensure the odds are better than 3 times bet
3) Bet equal amounts on each for a place
4) Become filthy rich

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Using the above technique, I was able to exit the racecourse almost $6 richer than when I entered! While this wouldn’t have covered the cost of a beer had I bought one, it did mean that I was still +$2 even after buying a Lift πŸ˜‰

Two races deserve special mention. In race 6, an 1850 meter run, there was a horse named:

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Obviously, I had to ignore my own system and bet on it for the win!

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Despite leading – by 3 lengths! – for about 99% of the race…. Shen Long didn’t even place!

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Dad had joined us for the above race, and the last one as well. In that race was a horse called ‘Al’s Pride’ ridden by a jockey with a name suspiciously close to Schmitz. Both dad and Bernard bet big on it…. and won nothing!

Me, I followed my system and walked off with $4.55 on a $0.50 bet on ‘Beaveroo’ to place πŸ˜‰

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So Bernard’s lucky streak of gambling seemingly came to an end yesterday. But we haven’t yet forgotten his luckiest day two years ago was the last of the trip…

Bedlam

Mum described the scene as ‘bedlam’ shortly after we arrived. I’m guessing this was because of Bernard being his usual manic self while I was sitting peacefully and quietly.

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As you can see Dad’s in fine health. Here’s another shot of him hiding behind my dinner:

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Bernard screamed manically about beetroot being ‘The King’s Tuber’. I sagely, peacefully and quietly agreed…

So, going back a bit, yesterday we came up to Newcastle. Mum and dad were of course glad to see us…. and then we left again to go shopping! This included a delicious lunch:

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Oh, and here’s Bernard playing SFL’s favourite poker machine:

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Here’s a giant spider on mum and dads window:

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In the evening we entertained aunts and uncles…

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Before I retired in my hotel room for the next 10 days:

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The Arrival

Both of my domestic flights had delays which meant running in airports to make connections. The international flight was a near continuous 15 hours of turbulence that made virtually any activity outside of listening to music on headphones impossible. Taken as a whole, this was by far the worst travel to Australia I’ve ever done.

Which made me even happier to arrive, and to rendezvous with Bernard at the airport soon afterwards.

What followed was a day that included some shopping…

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Some eating…

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Some drinking…

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And picking up the car!

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As of right this moment I’m going on 48+ hours without sleep and am slurring my words.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Blue Mountains but before then I’ve got a date with a pillow!