"I'm so glad I don't work at a café or a bar" Hannah said. She and Sacha were, in fact, in a bar, and Hannah was in the process of ordering them each a drink. It was, unusually for a bar that Hannah chose to go to, staffed entirely by people she didn't recognise. "I don't know any of these girls" she'd said when they'd first entered the bar, as if Sacha might have got her hopes up.

"Why are you glad you don't work in a bar?" Sacha asked her.

"'Cause you don't get Melbourne Cup day off" Hannah pointed out. "You've gotta come in here and serve people 'cause people always like to go out on public holidays. Customers are annoying like that."

"Yeah . . ." Sacha replied. They got their drinks and moved to a table. "I kinda miss working on Cup day" Sacha said when they were settled.

"How the hell could you miss it?" Hannah laughed.

"Well, I mean it's nice having the day off and all, but it's a nice social kind of occasion in the office. I mean, you have the office sweepstakes for starters. And there's morning tea, and someone brings in a T.V. and everyone watches the race and gets excited."

"You get excited about the Melbourne Cup?"

"Not me so much."

"Right."

"And anyway" Sacha continued, "here it's, like, just another day off. Except with more people in the T.A.B."

"I can't believe I didn't place a bet" Hannah said ruefully.

"I can't believe you bet on the horses" Sacha laughed incredulously.

"Just the Melbourne Cup" Hannah replied. "Janine got me into it. I was gonna bet today, too, it's just there were such a long queue!"

"Yeah."

"But I was gonna bet on that horse that came second, Purple Moon" Hannah continued. "I was totally gonna do it! I could've won some money!"

"You were?" Sacha asked incredulously.

"That, or Eskimo Queen."

"Well, here." Sacha lifted her drink. "Drown your sorrows."