Good bet

It is Boxing Day, and we are on the taxi rank.

We do not at all mind this, because we have had such a lovely time. We have had the most splendid of Christmas times, and now we are contented to work for a while 

This week is an important time to be at work. Once the New Year is over then the Lake District becomes very quiet, and it is difficult to make any money at all. We will have to make as much money as we can now and then keep our fingers tightly crossed for the next couple of months. 

The interesting bit of our Boxing Day was doing something completely new this morning. 

We had a bet.

It was a proper bet, in the bookmaker’s shop in the village. 

This was because when we went to the Cathedral last year, the man giving the sermon in the pulpit said that if we wanted any racing tips for the King George race on Boxing Day then a horse called Might Bite would be a good one to bet on.

We did not bet last year, which did not matter, because Might Bite did not win. 

We knew that Might Bite was racing again this year, and so we thought that perhaps we might actually have a go, because if they tell you to do something in church then it must be right.

The obvious problem was that we did not have any money.

Mark solved this by going down the back of the seats in his taxi. He said that since the money had been lost once then it might as well be again. When we counted it there was just over ten pounds, so we bought some Good Dog Sausages for the dogs, who have got sick of walnuts and Christmas tree lollies by now, and went to the betting shop to have a bet with the rest.

Neither of us has ever put a bet on a horse before, and we did not know what to do.

The man in the betting shop was very helpful. We explained that we wanted to bet some money on a horse called Might Bite on a race this afternoon, and he knew exactly what we were talking about. He talked knowledgeably about odds  which might change and advised us what to do. Then he said that he had already put a bet on Might Bite himself, and so he would have his fingers crossed as well.

We gave him the money and then went home. 

Mark made sausage sandwiches for everybody’s breakfast.

After that we thought that it was still a holiday and so we could still do a holiday thing. The television was still out of its corner, and so we thought we would watch the last film that we had wanted to watch all together. 

This was called Christopher Robin, and was the story of Winnie the Pooh’s friend once he had grown up.

It was terribly upsetting.

Of course Christopher Robin had become a heartless grown up too occupied with work to care about his family properly. He was too busy to be interested in Winnie the Pooh any more, and we all cried a little bit because the little teddy bear was puzzled and sad. 

We all howled derision at the screen when it turned out that the proof of Christopher Robin’s indifferent lovelessness was his intention to send his daughter away to a boarding school where she would be expected to work hard and concentrate. We all thought that it was exactly what she needed, and that she ought to be jolly grateful and get on with it. 

Lucy said afterwards that it is a theme of films that makes her very cross, you can tell an unloved child in a film because of the boarding school. They don’t get sold as brilliant places where you have wonderful times with lots of friends, get an ace education and know that you are there because your family wants the very best for you. 

Oliver said that you don’t have a rubbish family life just because you are at boarding school. You have a rubbish family life if you have got a rubbish family. 

We all thought that we have a jolly good family life.

After that Mark and I went for a sleep so that later we could heartlessly go out to work and afford to banish our children to boarding schools. 

The children went upstairs to swivel about in their new chairs and watch YouTube on their computers.

We are out at work now.

Might Bite did not win, which goes to show that even people who tell you things from the pulpit in the cathedral can be wrong.

Happy Boxing Day.