Monday 16 April 2012

Well I saw that coming...

My eldest nephew is the Grim Reaper. I bet you didn't expect me to say that on a Monday morning.

This weekend it was the Grand National horse race, which is a big deal in the country as a whole and an even bigger deal in Liverpool where the racecourse is. (Liverpool this, Liverpool that, do I ever shut up about my home town?). I love the horse racing but prefer the flat races and the Grand National can be particularly gruelling as horses seem to die jumping the fences every year. They'd made some safety changes to the course this year, but obviously still not enough to ensure the safety of the horses.

Anyway, onto the 'my eldest nephew is the Grim Reaper' business. Before the race started one of the horses (Synchronised) threw his jockey and made a bolt for it, to which my nephew said, 'That horse has so just had a final destination moment.' Synchronised was rounded up and entered the race, and within ten/fifteen minutes he'd fallen and needed to be put down. Makes you wonder if the horse did see what would happen.

Have you ever had a premonition?

In 1998 I had dozens of dreams about playing slot machines and gambling and they continued for a few weeks, culminating in the moment when I won a holiday to Las Vegas. Then, while in Vegas, I had a dream about an old-fashioned casino, with some very old slot machines away from the general floor and with a small avenue of shops running off it. When we found ourselves in that exact same casino (or as close to as my dream memory would allow) I said, 'Wow, this place is just like from my dream last night and in my dream the person next to me won a ton of cash from a slot machine.' Next moment...

...the slot machine next to me began spewing money.

8 comments:

Michael Stone said...

Awesome story about the casino dream, Cate.

As for the Grand National, I'm of the opinion it should be banned. I appreciate the tradition of the steeplechase and all that, but it should have been turned into a flat race years ago, methinks.

K.C. Shaw said...

Dang, that's creepy--both the dreaming and the horse. Poor horse! Horses are not really built for jumping like that anyway.

Ray Cluley said...

I knew you were going to blog about that today. Spooky.

(Sorry, someone had to.)

Mary Rajotte said...

We watched the race and I cringed and squealed throughout. Poor horses, indeed! And the jockeys who get trampled. We go to the thoroughbreds & standardbreds often, but that one is brutal.

My premonitions only ever occur on Sundays sensing I am going to have a hard time getting up the next day...

Cate Gardner said...

Groan, Ray.

And, ha! Mary

I suspect there will be more safety changes this year but will they be enough. :(

ggardner33 said...

I can confirm the casino story true as I was sat next to her....only problem is I was sat on the wrong side of her...

Simon Kewin said...

It's cool when something like that happens. Of course, the rationalist in me is skeptical. How many times do we get these premonitions and they don't "come true". We tend to only notice/remember when they do I suspect ...

Cate Gardner said...

Doh! Gary

Damn your scepticism, Simon