It being Ramadan should make no difference to numbers as gambling is Haram for followers  of the Muslim faith. However I live in the real world and suspect that it probably does. Ho hum, life goes on.

My first job after university was in one of the livelier William Hills in NW London - the clientele was full of characters.

One day two of them got into a massive row about something or other.

One of them said to the other 'You shouldn't even be in here - you're a Muslim'

To which the Muslim replied 'You shouldn't be in here either - how that judge only gave you a suspended sentence for throwing that traffic warden through that shop window I'll never know'

So lovely to hear from you Andrew.

Do you & your brother still play Online poker? One of you was "Dr Marbles" iirc?

Still in touch with Claire/Claw? Anyone else from the old gang?

What are you doing these days?

No - out of the poker game. I qualified for the Seniors last year so gave the seniors event at the Irish Open a spin and managed to make the final table. Standard of play just like the old days - nitty and stationary, reraises with super-premiums only. Managed to bust in the most seniory way possible - facing a river bet on a two spade board I worked out that he could only have been on a flush draw so called his bluff only to learn I'd misread the board and the river club was actually a spade.

When I went down I couldn't believe how big the IPO was - back in the poker boom they held it in a hotel but it's now in the big RDS conference centre and people were there from all over the world for the ten days. I had no idea that poker was still a big thing.

I play a weekly Zoom quiz with Claire Dan and Curtis which is a fun way to while away an hour or so - we're in a league where we play Only connect style games against other teams.

I work in cybersecurity now - trying to keep one step ahead of the AI which may either save us or destroy us.

It being Ramadan should make no difference to numbers as gambling is Haram for followers  of the Muslim faith. However I live in the real world and suspect that it probably does. Ho hum, life goes on.

My first job after university was in one of the livelier William Hills in NW London - the clientele was full of characters.

One day two of them got into a massive row about something or other.

One of them said to the other 'You shouldn't even be in here - you're a Muslim'

To which the Muslim replied 'You shouldn't be in here either - how that judge only gave you a suspended sentence for throwing that traffic warden through that shop window I'll never know'

By way of seeing if there are still any readers out there, think I'll start with a Caption Competition. Try not to be too rude, right?

On Monday I played golf with Ralph (karabiner) & Tom (Red).

For those not familiar - the closure of the Sky Community means we have a few new & very welcome Member here - the distinguished looking gent on the right as we look is Ralph Shalson, aka karabiner, & the gnarly looking bloke in the middle holding his willy is Tom, aka Red-Dog. I'm the young cool dude, obv.

I swear to God we've all shrunk (in height) in the last decade. Pretty sure I used to be 5'-10", & I'm barely 5'-8" now & the shortest of all three.



 

Last of the summer wine

More like Last of the summer whine.

Oscar is a great if somewhat unusual Christian name. Any particular reason?

I don't know yet. It surprised me!

Anyone in the family with a reputation for being a grouch?

Thanks Ironside. I was so busy having my mini-rant I clean forgot to remove the spammy link.

Worst mod ever.

What is a service dog?

I assume not a guide dog for a blind person as that’s not gonna be much help in a poker tournament - ‘What’s that Fido, I’ve been dealt another rough hand?’

I have a bit of a dislike of Primal Scream for some time due to them taking too much credit for the work of Andy Weatherall.  Some of the stuff that cam out after the death of Denise Johnson didn't make feel more favorable towards them, but this witness statement at the inquest of Martin Duffy lays it all bare.  Warning: It is upsetting.

http://www.dafts.co.uk/louieduffystatement.pdf

That is pretty brutal reading.

I’ve always prided myself on being a pretty good judge of character and I pegged Bobby Gillespie as an arsehole from the first time I saw him

RIP Chompy - the fens will be a different place now you are gone.

Can someone please check on Chompy?

This is just terrible news - he was such a great guy to get chatting to at Blonde bashes.

I’m in Gran Canaria right now in an apartment with no Wi-Fi, only Spanish Tv and a rapidly dwindling data allowance on my phone.

I’m basically following this war through Tittybean’s Twitter feed so all power to you Tittybean for all the solid retweets

[Cum Loss]

Date     Weight   Weekly loss   Cum Loss
28/12/21   132.1      
04/01/22   130              2.1                   2.1
10/01/22   129.2      0.8                   2.9

Well, I suppose that’s one way to lose weight - find an exercise you enjoy doing and all that.

I, and other people I know from different social circles, have had Covid over Xmas and it’s all similar symptoms - basically that of a head cold, without the big coughing and lung shenanigans of previous waves.

I’m in Dublin and in the space of a few days, it went from me not knowing anyone who had covid since the start of it all, to several friends, who don’t know each other, getting it in a space of a few days. It’s essentially everywhere here - case levels are at record levels yet many people can’t even get PCR tests as the testing centres are maxed out - the website to book them gets booked out just after midnight everyday when the new day’s appts are available.

Hold on, I think I heard about this. Wasn't there something going around about Gus Hansen getting with Caroline Wozniacki at one point? God knows when though!

I think it was not that long after Rory McIlroy sent her into the deep rough.

Gus used to play tennis to quite a high standard as a teenager

Really hated the series and the way the story was told. In an interesting and kind of scary note, (without trying to give spoliers) the internet cafe in Berlin featured towards the end is around the corner from my flat.

I know I'm probably a bit late here but I watched the 3 part Doc series 'Don't Fuck with cats' on Netflix the other day and I don't think I've ever seen anything like that before.

For anyone that hasn't seen this it's a true story that starts out as internet uproar when someone posts a video online where he kills two cats. What is so good about what follows is it is like watching a whodunnit movie but where regular people use their own time trying to find the culprit clue by clue. It then moves on just like a movie script and just gets darker and darker and I'm even adding an extra and darker too.

**It's not really about cat's even tho it starts that way and although some of the footage is a little upsetting they don't show the worst parts of the videos.

It is an incredible story but I agree - the way the documentary is made is dreadful the way they string things out. One episode ends with us (the audience) finding out something new and interesting and then the whole of the next episode is us slowly watching the police find out the same info.