If Only I Had A Hat

Alcohol of the Day: John Smith's Extra Smooth

It's finally here.  They didn't have a public screen set up in York to watch the opening ceremony, so our choices were to find an available pub with TV screens, or watch it in our room.  But wait...

We found out that not only was there going to be horseracing here in York this weekend, but that there were going to be races tonight, and they were going to show the ceremony on big screens for everyone to see.  At first, I was hesitant to go because I had absolutely nothing appropriate to wear for an evening at the races.  If only I had a hat!  But as it turned out, you only needed to dress up in the grandstand.  In the infield, or the course enclosure as they call it, you can wear whatever you like.  You can even bring a picnic.  So we hopped on a shuttle bus and made our way to the York Racecourse.

The English take their horse races seriously.  There were people in the enclosure who were dressed up.  Men in suits, women with fascinators and high heels (even on the turf).  Of course, we couldn't just sit there and watch the races.  My brother made some cautious bets, and of the five of six races that he bet on, he won three times.  It was funny because of the horses he chose to place, two of them actually won.  So in the end, he only lost a couple of pounds, which isn't too bad.

After the races, they had an 80's music showcase.  But as 9:00pm approached, it didn't seem like they were going to show the ceremony yet because the concert was still going on.  Also, the sun was setting and the wind had picked up, so it was getting really chilly.  After a few minutes, we decided to just head back to the hotel.  We missed the first half hour but it sounds like there were some good moments in the beginning.  I guess I'll have to YouTube it later, if it doesn't repeat ad nauseum on TV.

But now it's time for sleep.  Tomorrow, we're London bound.

"There's no point in asking, you'll get no reply"