The Race That Stops The Nation

I’ll let you into a secret here, it doesn’t. I’m sure that over half the population doesn’t have time to more than glance at the TV and at least a quarter really couldn’t care less about a horse race in Melbourne. So who doesn’t have time to watch it? Most medical professionals, after all the sick and dying, don’t stop for a horse race, neither do babies being born. School teachers, yes, all kids go to school on a Tuesday, well except maybe those that live in Victoria where it is a public holiday, in the rest of the country school and work go on as usual (officially for work anyway), so teachers and childcare workers are still hard at it. My mechanic is working today, he is going to be servicing my car among others, he may pause to watch the race, but he won’t be taking the whole day off to celebrate, neither will many other self employed people. People working in hospitality will be flat out, catering for all of those parties that go on. The police will also be kept busy by the drunks careening home after cup day parties and the hospital emergency rooms tend to be busier on days like this. These are the people who have no choice but to ignore the race, then there are those who just don’t like horse racing, yes there are many of us in Australia, and no we aren’t un-Australian, we are just un interested in horse racing. Then there are those who deliberately stay away, because they have gambling or drinking problems and the only way to avoid disaster is to steer clear. Those who have religious objections to gambling, so the whole Muslim and Baha’i population of Australia, plus other religions too, like the Mormons and Seventh Day Adventists, and others that I don't know enough about. In fact when I add it up like this, it is probably more than half the nation that doesn’t stop, so maybe the TV hype should change, life goes on for many of us, while the race slows it for a few.