Heavenly Earwax

Those Brits go a little crazy in the month of June. Perhaps it's the 16 hours of sunshine after months of dreary darkness. Maybe it's those witches and warlocks converging on Stonehenge for the Solstice. Possibly it's Tennyson's paen to the month (memorized by those of us in Mrs McAndrews' English Lit class), "And what is so rare as a day in June. Then, if ever, come perfect days. Then heaven tries earth if it be in tune. And o'er it softly her warm ear lays."

Heavenly ear wax may not explain Britain's Annual Man vs. Horse Race. Earlier this month, forty-four horse-and-rider teams took on 253 runners in a 22 mile race near London. Once again, a horse won beating out the fastest human by about ten minutes. What a surprise!

Now, Brits are famous for wagering on horse races. The betting at their Darby Racecourse was the beginning of our (misspelled) Kentucky, Soapbox, and other Derbies. Still, only a sunshine-besotted Englishman would put money down on a two-legged, 150 pound human bred for watching football on the tellie as opposed to a four-legged, 1000 pound animal bred to run.

And they wonder why they lost the Revolution.