Never Ceases To Surprise

March 30, 2002-Updates

When we spoke to Daniel & Vikki at their Seder, Vikki asked how the soap was holding out. I told her we were OK for soap, but we might not have enough toilet paper. Daniel suggested we eat a lot of matzo. For those of you who haven’t experienced a week of eating matzo, just let me tell you it’s referred to in the Seder liturgy as the “bread of affliction.” To put it mildly, it has anti-diarrhea properties. That’s why dried fruit also makes an appearance during Pesach.

This is an Aussie Easter update. They do have Easter bunnies, but, if you recall, rabbits are considered vermin here & are regularly exterminated. People look upon rabbits as we would rats. Somehow an Easter rat wouldn’t fly with us. They’ve tried to introduce the Easter Bilby to replace it. I’m not sure what a bilby is, but it’s some sort of an indigenous furry marsupial. The effort hasn’t been successful with the tally still giving the rabbit the lead. You can’t fight the marketing of Madison Ave. when it comes to chocolate Easter treats.

I went to services here for the last time last night. There will be services for the end of Pesach, but I don’t usually go to those. The soloist realized it was the last she would see of me & started to cry. I really didn’t expect that kind of reaction. I feel sorry for the people we’re leaving because they can’t come with us, not because we can’t stay here. I really think the U.S. is still a better place to live with all of its pimples. Australia is the only other place in the world we’ve been to, language aside, where we would ever consider living. David feels that he’s abandoning the people here. When he has left congregations in the past, he felt confident that they were going to be able to find a new rabbi who would serve them well. He knows that this congregation will once again be without professional leadership. He’s really liked the life-style here. When I asked him if he would reconsider Florida, he said he thought the lifestyle there wasn’t as laid back as it is here. He’s right. He also likes that our money is worth so much more here.

Toting It Up

The Bruces took us to the Gold Coast Race Track this afternoon. They own interests in two horses neither of which ran today. Once again, we were taken with the differences. In the book, Song of Solomon, by Bryce Courtenay, there’s a detailed description of bookies who worked at the tracks. They still have them today. They’re set up along a wall & are a study in contrasts. The tote boards are archaic manual contraptions where the odds are laboriously displayed. Each bookie has his own computer to figure the odds, although one man still did it manually. Once the odds are posted & a wager is placed with a bookie, the odds are locked in for that bet no matter how they change before the race. There are also Para mutual betting windows run by the track where you can place a bet. There you risk the odds changing at the last minute. When you place a bet with a bookie, you give your money to a man who’s holding a very large satchel, a tote bag. He puts your money in the bag & hands you a ticket where he’s hand written your wager. Bets as low as $A 0.50 are permissible. Since it’s legal to bet on races taking place anywhere in the world, there are simultaneous broadcasts & opportunities to bet on events all around the country as well as England when they run there. It was quite confusing since all of the races running at that time were being announced & shown on the TV monitors. Another difference is that minors are allowed & encouraged to come. It’s family entertainment & there’s even a playground.

Before the first race we noticed that the horses ran opposite of the way they do in the U.S. That was a good thing since it helps to be able to know where to look when the horses run. There was an epidemic of runaways & false starts when they had trouble with the starting gate. The horses that jumped the gun were eliminated from the race & we got our money back for the wagers. David always bets on the same numbers & didn’t deviate this time. Syd studied the racing form like it was holy & placed his bets based on the knowledge of each horse. David won twice. We came out $A 75 ahead. Syd had one small win.

We ended our day with a walk by the ocean to see the full moon. It was reflecting on the water & was a melancholy reminder that this was our last time to see it that way. David felt like an ice cream after dinner so we headed to our favorite stand. Without thinking & with remarks about the fact that he was getting the last scoop from the container, David ordered his ice cream in a cup. He usually gets it in a cone, but chose the cup in deference to Pesach. As we walked away & he dug his spoon into the ice cream, it hit me that he’d ordered cookies & cream. I stopped him in time & after we got over the giggles about how obtuse we were, he went back for another cup. In order to save face, he pretended that I had changed my mind & ordered chocolate. I trashed the C & C. That was a close call.

Toby