Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Heat Is On

Melbourne at the moment is experiencing an intense heat wave - several consecutive days of over 40° Centigrade, which is not likely to be relieved until Saturday. The media is making a big fuss about it, but really it is the season after all - we generally have a few 40°C + days every summer. Fortunately it is a dry heat which is more bearable than high humidity. We’re still in drought; no rain has fallen for weeks.

Fortunately we had an evaporative cooling system installed last year, which has finally justified its purchase. It makes all the difference, cooling the interior of the house very effectively and allowing one to get a reasonable night’s sleep.

The heat, in another sense, is also on the Autumn Racing Carnival with the first of the Group One races of the season to be run on Saturday (weather permitting). If it’s too hot I sure hope the races are cancelled for the horses’ sake.

But if they do in fact go ahead, the Lightning Stakes is certain to be a great race. Both Apache Cat and Weekend Hussler will be competing in it, along with several other smart sprinters.

At last one can get some idea of the likely star performers of the autumn after the races last weekend. On Friday night Light Fantastic returned to racing and even though he was unable to catch the winner, Lucky Secret, his run was very impressive.

On Monday, Australia Day, I watched the racing from Caulfield on my computer and was delighted to see Time Thief take the prize in the Zedative Stakes. Rostova blitzed her rivals in the fillies Blue Diamond Prelude in only her second start. She certainly has the potential to become a superstar of the turf and is the hot favourite for the Blue Diamond Stakes, to be run on 21st February.

Fravashi, Typhoon Tracy, Von Costa De Hero and Irish Lights also put in eye catching runs.

Sebring
, whose return I was keenly anticipating has been retired to stud after being found to be lame or still suffering from the injury that put him out of contention in the spring.

Tomorrow evening is the Ryan Adams and the Cardinals concert at The Forum. It’s a sell out show, so no doubt will be hot, hot, hot in more ways than one. I’m getting excited. After all, Ryan Adams is my favourite artist and it may be my last chance to see him for a while. He recently stated that he is leaving the Cardinals and taking a step back from music. He has been diagnosed with
Ménière's disease, which is a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance and can eventually cause deafness in the affected ear. I imagine it would be a difficult ailment for a performing artist to cope with, especially a musician.

Reports so far of the Cardinals Australian tour have been very positive with Ryan and the band being in good spirits and putting on great shows.

Anyway, even though the show is billed as general admission, standing only, there are booths with seating a fair way back from the stage. I don’t really feel up to being crushed in the mosh pit at the front, so will endeavour to arrive early enough at the venue to score a first rank booth.

And I’m really keen to find out how the new Canon camera performs in concert mode.

Will report back on Saturday, hopefully with some decent photos.

2 comments:

Ann ODyne said...

it is this hot all the time in many other places, I wish the media wouldn't beat us all into more of a frenzy over it.

and I think it's Celsius ?

if it is and you fix your post, just delete this comment

be cool

Anne S said...

Ann, I know it is very hot up country most summers, but the media only seem to go into a frenzy when Melbourne is hit with a heat wave.

The way they're carrying on, you'd think it had never happened before.

Celsius is also known as centigrade - so we're both right.