Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[AndrewT]

living in Newcastle when they sold Andy Cole to United, could not keep the smile off my face on those days.

I was at university when this happened and was the first to tell a friend of mine. He went into absolute shock - '£7 million??? £7 million??' (this was when £7m was a lot of money). He scrambled around behind him feeling for a chair to sit down on - 'You're winding me up, really?, £7m??'

[bobby1]

I don't know if you caught it Tony but Question Time was pretty lively tonight, worth a watch on catch up if you have some spare time.

[Jon MW]

I don't know if you caught it Tony but Question Time was pretty lively tonight, worth a watch on catch up if you have some spare time.

My boss watched it, he thought it was depressing that Russell Brand made Farage look more sensible than he is.

Although I suspect a lot of the audience were likely to be just nodding along to Brand saying - everything isn't the fault of the immigrants, it's the fault of the bankers. So I'm not sure how much damage would really be caused.

[MANTIS01]

Are you a cricket fan Tony? I'm reading a cracking book at the moment called The Final Over - The Cricketers Of Summer 1914 by Christopher Sandford. A little bit like the 1927 book you recommended, takes you right back to the era and follows cricketers who fought in WW1. Either get it or pm me an address and I'll send it to you when I return from my Winter hols. Really trying to recycle books to people who would enjoy them because moving house is becoming a real pain with so many books. Proper hardback too, no messing.

Did you know James Barrie set up a cricket team? Players included Arthur Conan Doyle, Willie Hornung, A.A.Milne and P.G.Wodehouse.

"As soon as he announced he was raising a team, Barrie was deluged with applications by players not only from Britain but all over Europe. The side's first fixture did not bode well for this cosmopolitan line-up: one French player turned up wearing pyjamas, a colleague extended the idea by falling asleep in the outfield, while a third man, a Belgian, thought the game had finished every time the umpire called "Over".

What's more, Arthur Conan Doyle once achieved the unusual distinction of managing to set himself on fire when batting

[tikay]

I remember the day john Lennon died. I was 7, at home, as I was off school because I was ill. I remember it was the third time I'd heard he had died and was thinking, who the f**** are they talking about? Keeps interrupting my telly. 😡 then my mum came in and she was shocked, gave me a lesson on who he was, then I went back to watching playschool. And all was well in the world again.

Guess it would not mean much to a 7 year old.

For my generation, it was right up there with the deaths of John F Kennedy & Princess Diana, above most others for wow-factor (family excepted). Maybe add Ayrton Senna to the list, just.

Elvis surely must be added to this list? Apart from two family funerals, this was the only time I ever saw my Dad shed a tear in front of the kids. A few will also add Michael Jackson to the list too.......in years to come folk will add him to the 'I remember where I was when......died' list.

I have no recollection whatsoever of Elvis's passing, it mean't nothing particular to me. I wished him no ill, of course, but I've never had any interest in Elvis, none at all. 

Of more interest to me in the Elvis Dept is the "Elvis Impersonator" thing. I was on a flight to Vegas once, there must have been some Elvis Convention on, as there was a party on the 'plane of 20 guys all dressed as Elvis. 10 hours in comfy clothes is a stretch for me, God knows what it must be like dressed up in a silly costume.

There is a fairly well known poker player, "Bruce "Elvis" Atkinson, (who must be in his seventies now, but still plays poker), who has traded on his rep as an Elvis impersonator all the time I've known him, maybe 15 years. Every time I've met him - 100 or 200 times at a guess - he does the same Elvis impression. It wears a little thin after the first 20 attempts.  Apparently he claims to make a living as a "Professional Elvis Impersonator".

He played the last UKPC, & asked to have a word with me, & then invited me to become one of his "European Poker Hall of Fame" inductees, which, on the face of it, was very kind of him, especially as I fall way short of the stated criteria. He resides in the title of "President, European Poker Hall of Fame" I believe. 

I sussed the coup immediately - the deal was if Sky Poker would sponsor his Hall of Fame for a year, I'd get inducted.

We'll get back to you on that, Bruce.

He has had a few nice results at the poker table, mind, a dozen or more WSOP cashes, & a good cash in the WPT London a few years back, the one Cody won I think.

Click to see full-size image.

1.50 here, if you want a flavour.......

[tikay]

I remember the day john Lennon died. I was 7, at home, as I was off school because I was ill. I remember it was the third time I'd heard he had died and was thinking, who the f**** are they talking about? Keeps interrupting my telly. 😡 then my mum came in and she was shocked, gave me a lesson on who he was, then I went back to watching playschool. And all was well in the world again.

Guess it would not mean much to a 7 year old.

For my generation, it was right up there with the deaths of John F Kennedy & Princess Diana, above most others for wow-factor (family excepted). Maybe add Ayrton Senna to the list, just.

Elvis surely must be added to this list? Apart from two family funerals, this was the only time I ever saw my Dad shed a tear in front of the kids. A few will also add Michael Jackson to the list too.......in years to come folk will add him to the 'I remember where I was when......died' list.

Felt absolutely nothing about the death of Michael Jackson. Think a lot of it was to do with the fact he was the umpteenth celeb to have major coverage of his death on TV. think the others before him are more powerful, because of the rarity.

Again, I have no recollection of his death, other than a few news headlines. I did think the trial of his "doctor" was quite interesting though. Not because I was fussed as to the outcome, but it cast an interesting light on how Michael lived his life, pumped full of weirdo drugs & all sorts. Then his Family wanted to sue the Doctor for doing what Michael requested. In fact, the family sued everyone in sight, as I recall. All a bit crass, I thought, they just wanted to cash in on his passing.

I was a big fan of him in the Thriller era, my word that was seminal a Video & track, & I loved it. But then he went wrong upstairs, tried to transform himself into a white man (surprised how little stick he got for that), messed with drugs, plastic surgery, monkeys, children, all sorts. Quite sad to see his slow demise really. 

I can only imagine he was terribly advised by his Management throughout his career.

He was quite the fashion dude in his time, with those ankle length strides, white socks, plasters on his fingers & one white glove. I had the same get up, I looked incred.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I remember the day john Lennon died. I was 7, at home, as I was off school because I was ill. I remember it was the third time I'd heard he had died and was thinking, who the f**** are they talking about? Keeps interrupting my telly. 😡 then my mum came in and she was shocked, gave me a lesson on who he was, then I went back to watching playschool. And all was well in the world again.

Guess it would not mean much to a 7 year old.

For my generation, it was right up there with the deaths of John F Kennedy & Princess Diana, above most others for wow-factor (family excepted). Maybe add Ayrton Senna to the list, just.

Elvis surely must be added to this list? Apart from two family funerals, this was the only time I ever saw my Dad shed a tear in front of the kids. A few will also add Michael Jackson to the list too.......in years to come folk will add him to the 'I remember where I was when......died' list.

Felt absolutely nothing about the death of Michael Jackson. Think a lot of it was to do with the fact he was the umpteenth celeb to have major coverage of his death on TV. think the others before him are more powerful, because of the rarity.

Princess Diana for me

Woke up on a Sunday morning, switch on the news and there it was

remember where i was, who i was with, what i was wearing the whole lot


Elvis, not so much. JFK not born

Jackson..no, not at all. can't recall it at all in terms of where i was at the immediate moment

Totally agree with you on Princess Diana. I remember also trying to explain to then g/f it wasnt the Queen Mother who had died while watching the news.
Also, the whole remembering everything about the time, is also very valid for 911 for most folks too I would imagine.

I only recall the Jackson news because I was at a live band gig in a pub, and they stopped their set to announce it!


Turning a bit morbid now all this talk.....so....

MERRY XMAS EVERYONE!!! 

Oddly, my first memory of 9/11 was trying to get updates on the internet. We were all on "dial-up" then, & we could not get any sites to load. Amazing how far the internet has progressed since then, we are all (or mostly) on wifi, 3G or whatever nowadays, & can access the Web anywhere, any time, not just via desktop PC's. Amazingly, many parts of the world still don't enjoy access to the internet in any form.

[tikay]

My Dad used to get sick of coming home from work at night and seeing all the lights were on upstairs, but all of us were downstairs. One day something went tits up with the upstairs fuse box and all the lights went out upstairs. To prove a point, he deliberatley didnt fix them and let us wander around in darkness for six months.

I'll never forget the day my Mum said "Princess Diana is dead"

Me "wow, that's a surprise"

Mum "And Dad's fixed the upstairs lights"

Me "Holy shit!!!!! Are you kidding me? Shocker!"


----- ------

One that always sticks with me is when they announced Father Ted had died, I loved that guy. The one that will always leave the biggest imprint was 9/11 though.

Father Ted? A fictional character? Good Lord.

Whilst you are here Mr C, who or what is "The Toxic Customer"?

Thanks to Twitter, I spotted this interesting piece by you.


http://www.toxiccustomer.com/penny-gap/

[tikay]

No idea who James Blunt is, but I might just like him.

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2013/12/31/26-reasons-why-james-blunt-won-at-twitter-in-2013/

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20141209-miracles-of-aviation-history

Can't seem to get that link to work, Ryan.

How was Prague?

[tikay]

I was at a house party when Princess Diana went, we had no idea in the morning and were feeling a bit delicate so just wanted to watch Rawhide or the Walton's and feel a bit better, it took us ages to work out what had happened in the state we were in, there were just lots of people in dark suits instead of cowboys!!!!!

I can also remember where I was when the shocking news about Eric Cantona retiring came through (car park in Glastonbury) I had to take a moment to compose myself before driving off. (Much to my Wife's amusement) As a strange co-incidence I was living in Leeds when he was sold to United, and living in Newcastle when they sold Andy Cole to United, could not keep the smile off my face on those days.

He seems to have developed into quite an accomplished actor these days, love those beer ads he does.

[DaveShoelace]

My Dad used to get sick of coming home from work at night and seeing all the lights were on upstairs, but all of us were downstairs. One day something went tits up with the upstairs fuse box and all the lights went out upstairs. To prove a point, he deliberatley didnt fix them and let us wander around in darkness for six months.

I'll never forget the day my Mum said "Princess Diana is dead"

Me "wow, that's a surprise"

Mum "And Dad's fixed the upstairs lights"

Me "Holy shit!!!!! Are you kidding me? Shocker!"


----- ------

One that always sticks with me is when they announced Father Ted had died, I loved that guy. The one that will always leave the biggest imprint was 9/11 though.

Father Ted? A fictional character? Good Lord.

Whilst you are here Mr C, who or what is "The Toxic Customer"?

Thanks to Twitter, I spotted this interesting piece by you.


http://www.toxiccustomer.com/penny-gap/

Cheers Teeks.

Yeah as you may recall, I have (a little bit like you do) a fascination with the mentality of online commenters, trolls, entitlement etc etc.

The term Toxic Customer comes from this truly awesome blog by another chappy that really resonated with me:

http://www.softwarebyrob.com/2010/12/09/how-to-detect-a-toxic-customer/

Anyhoo, my 2015 side project will be a book on all of the above and more (Currently researching a fascinating little area called 'outrage porn'). I've set up the above blog simply as a way to document my research as I go along and to hopefully build an audience in advance.

That piece you linked I really should share a bit more in poker. I've spoken to a lot of operators who influenced it, basically all who confirmed that it's the freeroll chappies who cause the most work for customer support. Bet you have a few stories of that ilk too.

James Blunt is an absolute legend btw.

[tikay]

I don't know if you caught it Tony but Question Time was pretty lively tonight, worth a watch on catch up if you have some spare time.

I'm assuming that was the Farage v Brand thing?

I read somewhere that Mr Farage has had more appearances on QT in the last 5 years than anyone bar Dimbelby. Quite why the BBC want to give so much oxygen to a racist I've no idea. It's breathtaking that his Party, which seems to be dreadfully organised, gets so many votes.

Can't say that watching or listening to either appeals, it just gets me cross, so I swerve that sort of stuff these days. Pretty sure that when we pass a certain age - & I've clearly done so - we build a loathing of un-necessary aggro, & Brand v Farage fits smack-bang in that department.

Brand seems to be very Marmite, opinions on him are so polarised. I sort of took against him after that dreadful Sachs affair he did with Ross, which showed, imo, a complete lack of class & sensitivity. Made him a big name though, & he's monetised his notoriety from it nicely. Negativity is such an easy thing to do, being positive is so much harder, &, it seems, less popular.

Probably unfairly, but all these media celebs, comedians, rock stars & the like, (Brand, Bono, Sting) who use their fame to tell us how to behave kinda get on my tits. Completely illogical, I know, but it just resonates badly with me.

I see the Blades are in the play-off spots, can they get back to the Championship next season? How is that "rapist" matter at Sheff Utd panning out now? Lot of noise about that, & a truly ugly tale, but a lot more complex than many seem to think. *

* For those who did not follow the story, cliffs. Footballer gets found guilty of rape, (which he still denies) gets sent to prison, serves his (reduced) sentence, & then returns to football. Should his Club reinstate him, or sack him? If he had been convicted of, say, refusing to pay parking fines, or defrauding a gaming site, I fancy there'd be no fuss. Rape is MUCH more serious though, & emotive. The logic is identical, though, when we serve our sentence, have we, legally, (not morally, of course) paid our bill?

[tikay]

Are you a cricket fan Tony? I'm reading a cracking book at the moment called The Final Over - The Cricketers Of Summer 1914 by Christopher Sandford. A little bit like the 1927 book you recommended, takes you right back to the era and follows cricketers who fought in WW1. Either get it or pm me an address and I'll send it to you when I return from my Winter hols. Really trying to recycle books to people who would enjoy them because moving house is becoming a real pain with so many books. Proper hardback too, no messing.

Did you know James Barrie set up a cricket team? Players included Arthur Conan Doyle, Willie Hornung, A.A.Milne and P.G.Wodehouse.

"As soon as he announced he was raising a team, Barrie was deluged with applications by players not only from Britain but all over Europe. The side's first fixture did not bode well for this cosmopolitan line-up: one French player turned up wearing pyjamas, a colleague extended the idea by falling asleep in the outfield, while a third man, a Belgian, thought the game had finished every time the umpire called "Over".

What's more, Arthur Conan Doyle once achieved the unusual distinction of managing to set himself on fire when batting

Thanks Mr Mantis.

As it happens, I have the book already, but I've not read it yet. I buy books in batches of 6 or 8, & so always have a little stockpile of stuff awaiting in a sort of queue.




If it's half as good as "One Summer, America 1927" it'll be a rip-snorter. Quite my favourite read so far this year, & by a long way, all the more remarkable as it was such a surprise, I don't generaly enjoy history type stuff.




Recycling books? Jeez, I wish I could, I become attached to them, & apart from a bunch destroyed in the house flood, I've never thrown a book away. Whenever I think of where I may or may not decide to live in the future, my first thought is always "is there room for my books?"

It makes no sense at all, but I can't help it, they are my comfort cloth, that I still have them, they become sort of "old friends". I once had the dream of re-reading them all, but it's a bit late now I fancy. In "entertainment", Nature TV Docs are near the top of my lifetime list, but books lead the list, & by some way, nothing has given me so much pleasure. The highlight of every day for me remains the hour before bed, when I turn the TV & Internet off & read a few chapters of my latest book. Total peace & contentment washes over me, & I go to sleep without thinking of all my ills & woes in life.

Where did you go for your "winter holiday"? Must say, I did not realise you were quite so posh. Only Flushy does winter hols in my circle.

I had to look up who James Barrie was. My ignorance known no bounds.

[horseplayer]

Books you say? 😉