One of the things about writing blogs (or anything else for that matter) is you never know how much readers know about what you are writing about. So there may be people who know nothing about horse racing. That probably means they don't care a jot about it either.
Miranda won at 3/1 which basically means that if you bet £1 on her to win you would get £4 back - that's £3 in winnings and your £1 stake. 3/1 or three to one was the starting price i.e the price that the horse began the race at. But I put my money on last night when the price was 5/2 or two-and-a-half to one.
Prices change according to how much money is waged on a horse. Prices can lengthen and this is called going out or they can shorten which is called coming in. The more money that goes onto a horse the shorter the price becomes. I have probably just confused everyone some more. Let's just leave it at the fact that I won a magnificent £12.50 and with the prize money I'm about £16 better off than I was 24 hours earlier!!!!!
* * *
Today we had a walk into Wymondham and there were quite a few people about. There was a feeling of things beginning to pick up again although only time will tell whether the COVID rates, which have been going down, do a U turn and go up again. I know most people are hoping that in two weeks' time Norfolk will go into tier one which will give us added freedom. Of course the essence is the roll out of a vaccine and hopefully everyone will be offered a vaccination before the Spring.
* * *
I had a lovely conversation yesterday with a student of journalism Danielle Champ. Dan wanted to interview me for a few projects and that made me feel very important. We spoke on zoom for almost an hour and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about my thoughts on lockdown, Hethersett and community spirit. I am already looking forward to a follow-up call when I can find out a little more about her burgeoning journalism career.
Dan is South African and we got to talking about Oscar Pistorius and I promised I would mention The Blade Runner in today's blog. I have been watching a BBC documentary on Pistorius. To me this is a travesty of a documentary much of it focusing on Pistorius as a South African and Global hero rather than as a vicious murderer.
It is only towards the end of the documentary that Pistorius is shown up as a bully, capable of domestic abuse and with a violent temper.
Pistorius had it all (apart from two legs of course - and that's not meant as a flippant remark). Here was an athlete who was a golden boy. A global sensation, a man who overcame the odds, a role model, a charmer. Pistorius was all of these, but underneath it all dwelt a much darker character - a man who was something of a loner.
I, like so many others, got wrapped up in the hype surrounding Pistorius as he smiled and chatted his way through interviews. The first time I got a hint of another side to the South African was in an interview after the 2012 Olympic 200 metres final when he complained about the blades used by the winner Alan Olivera. It smacked of being a sore loser. Just when you expected Pistorius to lose gracefully and congratulate the winner, we were confronted with another side of his character.
I remember saying at the time: "This guy isn't all he's cracked up to be." Then of course Pistorius became notorious for another reason - the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
The BBC documentary focuses far too much on Pistorius the hero and far too little on Reeva Steenkamp the victim. It's almost as if the BBC are looking to justify his actions and it is only towards the end that we see Pistorius in his true light as a liar capable of violence with a penchant for guns, fast cars and beautiful women.
His behaviour in defending his actions in court just made him look pathetic and dare I say it, the perpetual winner just looked like a loser. His claims that burglars broke into his apartment and then holed themselves up in his bathroom beggars belief. I believe Pistorius fired four shots through the door. If thieves had broken in why would they take refuge in a bathroom and, if they did, wouldn't Pistorius' proper action be to barricade them in and ring the authorities? And if those in the bathroom were thieves where was his girlfriend?
You can see how preposterous and unbelievable his defence was. Perhaps the BBC would like to do a second documentary focusing on the victim rather than the perpetrator.