Well the Melbourne Cup has been run and won but it was a very different race for me to previous years. It was different as i had to spend the day on my own.
Up until that morning i thought it was going to be the second year since 1994 that i did not watch the Cup (knowingly, because from all reports, i watched 1990-1993 as well). In 2007, Earth & Environmental Science had an HSC exam on the first Tuesday in November. I protested, i waved my arms, i asked them if they knew who i was, but all to no avail. The main exam attendant was a woman i have known since birth. Without even asking her to, she walked in at 3:15 and wrote the results on the blackboard. Surely this was against protocol and it may have affected my mark. I had backed Purple Moon... which was second to Efficient.
Yesterday i was in another country and sadly, spent much of the day on my own. Watching the race on a channel i found by chance and betting online through Tom Waterhouse (it is true. He will take bets from anyone! Even when other agencies insist that taking bets from people in America are against protocol!!). I was not too sure how i would react to being alone for it but it was a bit lonely and sad. I skyped Mum on five separate occasions and tried valiantly to imagine i was there sipping champagne and eating sour cream and chives pringles. Alas, it was not reality.
The whole experience reminded me of two things. A book i read called "What makes us tick?" (by Hugh Mackay) and an experience when visiting a church in Florence. The book states that, when we see something or experience something fun, happy or surprising, it is human instinct to want to share this with other people.
In Florence, years before i read the book, i was visiting San Minato el Monte (a short walk out of town), near Piazza le Michelangelo when an older Canadian man came up to me and broke the sombre mood. "Isn't this just incredible?" He said, rather than asked. "The ornate details, the colour, the patterns. Every tile is done so magnificently, so perfectly. Why are there not more people here?" We were both solo travellers and neither of us wanted more people there. His words struck a chord with me though and highlighted an issue about travelling solo, especially if you like art. Who do you talk with about it later? And at the time? It is human nature to want to debrief and analyse things which are spectacular or hard to believe. When you are on your own, some of the gloss can be lost (can, not necessarily will) in these situations.
It just goes to show that we are meant to share our life. Our happiness, our sadness too. I am not talking about marriage or official things like that but relationships and communities and groups. Being apart of these helps to broaden your mind, see the other side of situations, enjoy things more thoroughly and truly appreciate things. I know that man got a kick out of me saying "i have never seen anything like this before." I was still a naive, young, first time traveller, but the justification of his thoughts were all that he wanted.
Getting dinner the other day we had a similar experience. El Amigo, in Glendora, has a drive thru option but the window is on the right hand side of the car. No problem if you are in Australia. But we are not. The restaurant obviously encourages people to go get Mexican food with other people. Perhaps they do not want to be seen as the restaurant which caters to singles but it could certainly be embarrassing having to get out of the car to collect your food in the drive thru. It is almost like it is forcing people to be social and have dinner with friends - which could never be a bad thing.
not everyone wants to do everything with other people and i respect that but, there are very few experiences in life, very few sights to see, which would not be enhanced if you did not see it with some other like minded, open people as well. I suppose the message of my story is, whether you are watching the races, climbing the hill to San Minato el Monte in Florence or you are getting Mexican food from El Amigo, you are going to have a better time if you have someone special there to share it with.
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