Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[TightEnd]

so how was Hispaniola?

get to see any of it outside the resort?

[tikay]

I do hope your plum jacket is not lost in transit as that would be hard to replace.

Have a nice time.

x

Thanks Ralph. You'll be pleased & relieved to know the luggage eventually turned up, 2 days later.

I travelled in cold weather clothes, so felt a bit of a fool walking around in jeans & a rugby shirt with street shoes for 2 days.

Luckily, Adam Bromley loaned me socks & t-shirts, and Natalie Bromley loaned me 2 pairs of knickers, so all was well, & in truth, I found it all rather enjoyable & comfortable.

[tikay]

Tribeca was probably poo, but it seems to have gained status in our memories of the best poker software ever, think we all played on Blue Square? Blue Square are no more, swallowed up by Betfair I think. Jonathan Raab used to run it as I recall. Tribeca was sold to I-Poker I believe, Ugh.

Multi table tournaments with a hard coded max payout of 27 players, because they never thought the fields would get bigger than a couple of hundred. Bubble time used to be great fun - none of this 1.2x buy-in nonsense for a min cash in those days!

Not seen Rod or Jen in a long time but many good memories of those days, including some messy nights staying in the flat him and Flushy had in the marina.

I'd completely forgotten that "one size fits all on Tribeca, we pay 27 places - always" thing.  We look back fondly, but maybe it was not as wonderful as we thought at the time., Imagine the noise if a room did that now?

I still see Jen from time to time, & we keep in touch, & both Jen & Rod play the occasional PLO or PLO8 MTT Next Door.

I was on the same table as Rod in a UKOPS PLO event last week, & Rod made himself known to me, as I never recognized his screen-name.

I admire few people more in poker than Jen & Rod.

I don't see much of Flushy these days, usually once a year in Vegas. He introduced me to some interesting folks out there, who have since become friends, & is always very helpful, I must say. I do wish he'd post more on blonde, especially as he owns most of it, but I suppose I wish everyone would post more.

Hope you are keeping well, & still have an ounce or two of degen left in you.   

[tikay]

If you need any incentive to take up golf again how about this?

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/grill-room/shifty-fox-steals-golfers-headcover-multiple-times/?cid=twitter-gc-a-sgifty-fox-steals-headcover-110915

Ha, great stuff.

I don't need an incentive, I just need time, & the ability to actually see & hit the bloody ball.

I think about golf, & starting again, all the time, but I need to organise my life better, I already need 30 hours every day to do the stuff I enjoy doing.

I enjoy work so much these days, too, it's got a lot better of late, & I'm working with some really interesting people, most of whom actually take the time & trouble to listen to my views & actually reply, which has not always been the case.

Some of the work is bittersweet, too. I do still have quite a hand in certain things Next Door, one of which will be announced today, & I'm chuffed to bits to have helped make it happen - but equally, I know that when it's announced - in the next 30 minutes I believe - I'll get all sorts of flak, & have to try & explain the why's & wherefores politely, often in the face of rudeness. Cake & eat it, I suppose, no pain, no gain. Sometimes it's quite uphill, but mainly it's downhill, with the wind behind me. It's very satisfying to help broker, organise & arrange things, especially at my age, & it makes me happy to have dome something useful. Mostly.

How are you, anyway, still getting by, ducking & diving? My admiration for your lifestyle is immense.   

[tikay]

...and no sooner the word, the deed, I'm a mother again.


https://www.skypoker.com/secure/poker/sky_lobby/poker-promotions/ukpc-feb16

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Glad I wasn't on this plane landing at Inverness today - well done the pilot!

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/750449/video-plane-lands-sideways-inverness-airport-storm-abigail-winds/

Yikes.

I'm not 100% sure that the pilot should have attempted to land in such conditions, but I'm not actually a qualified airline pilot, so I guess my view is irrelevant.

Now then, whilst I have your attention, I have something for you.

On Tuesday of this week, there was THE most wonderful one hour long TV Programme called "A Year in the Wild - Loch Lomond". It was on, surprisingly, Ch5 of all places, not exactly what I'd expect to see there.

Tom tells me Ch5 is available on "Catch Up", so please try & find it - I absolutely promise, you won't regret it.

The camerawork was just stunning. Eagles nests (not as nice as you might think, with days old carcasses attracting flies, maggots & midges by the mill), Red Kites, Ospreys, Hinds, Hares,  all sorts. Can't recall a nature documentary I've enjoyed so much since Life of Birds, & it's all filmed less than an hour (?) from Glasgow.  

In one remarkable scene, we see a Hind calf approach the Mother of another Hind calf - the ferocity of the Mother's attack on this stranger was shocking to see.  No idea what that was all about.

The narration was superb, too, "Noonan" or somesuch was the guys name, who had the perfect balance between gravity & humour. This was Attenborough quality, & then some.

Best TV show this year for me, & it's not even close.

I think you will love it.


 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/new-loch-lomond-wildlife-documentary-6805831


http://www.locatetv.com/tv/loch-lomond-a-year-in-the-wild/9042171




EDIT - in fact, I think it's here.....



http://www.channel5.com/shows/loch-lomond-a-year-in-the-wild/episodes/episode-1-729

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I should add that I was alerted to that TV Show by Doobsy, whilst he was busy busting my arse at the poker tables. The things folks will do to create a diversion & damage my concentration, eh?

[Doobs]

I must watch that myself, amazing how you find such things! As you know I was multitabling the poker at the same time, so only really caught glimpses.  

I have never done a long walk despite always planning to when I was younger.   it is now in the diary for May 2017, as I am reaching an age ending in zero.  Trying to catch the first of the nice weather before the midges get horrible. We are going to do the West Highland Way up from Glasgow to Fort William.  You walk alongside Loch Lomond for several miles and then up over Rannoch (?) Moor and through Glencoe.  Going to do it the softies way with the luggage going ahead and hotels if we can find them.  Got 2 brothers interested.  Think I am as fit as you currently.  The more the merrier.

[tikay]

so how was Hispaniola?

get to see any of it outside the resort?

Most interesting, Rich, it was my first trip to the Caribbean.

The temperature was comfy, very comfy, much cooler than Vegas, but the humidity was off the scale, everything was damp to the touch, & there were mosquitos galore. Fortunately, I escaped their attention.

The first few days - minus luggage, including half my laptop paraphernalia - was a bit of an irritant, as were the last 2 days, when I was felled by a vicious case of food poisoning, so spent 2 days alternating between bed & bathroom. That's what happens when we eat foreign food, see?  I had eaten at a "teppanyaki style eatery specializing in Chinese and Japanese dishes", that was the problem. Think I had rice, chicken, beef & shrimps.  My first & last teppanyaki experience, let me tell you.

I crawled out of bed just in  time for what ended up as a 20 hour flight home. The thought of 20 hours on an aeroplane when I've got the galloping trots was not one I much relished. On the flight, I was seated next to a young mother, too, who was breast feeding her screaming infant every hour, too. I'm ok with breast feeding in public, it's perfectly natural & fine, but in the cramped confines of adjacent airline seats, I felt a bit awkward sitting there, not knowing quite where to look. The Mother was remarkably ample. 

More follows......

[tikay]

I must watch that myself, amazing how you find such things! As you know I was multitabling the poker at the same time, so only really caught glimpses.  

I have never done a long walk despite always planning to when I was younger.   it is now in the diary for May 2017, as I am reaching an age ending in zero.  Trying to catch the first of the nice weather before the midges get horrible. We are going to do the West Highland Way up from Glasgow to Fort William.  You walk alongside Loch Lomond for several miles and then up over Rannoch (?) Moor and through Glencoe.  Going to do it the softies way with the luggage going ahead and hotels if we can find them.  Got 2 brothers interested.  Think I am as fit as you currently.  The more the merrier.

How exciting, I'd love to be able to do that. Rod Paradise or Geo the Sarge may be able to help with advice, Rod is from those parts, whereas Geo is from the posh side, Edinburgh, but he's reasonably normal.

Have to say, I was up at Loch Lomond 40 years ago, camping, but the midges were just unbearable, & we eventually moved on to Fort William.

Glencoe, or specifically The Pass of Glencoe, is, for me, the most spectacular sight & experience in the British Isles, & beats Grand Canyon easily. There's not a more exhilarating piece of road anywhere in Gt Britain, either.

Wow on the birthday - 50 or 60?

Click to see full-size image.

[Rod Paradise]

I must watch that myself, amazing how you find such things! As you know I was multitabling the poker at the same time, so only really caught glimpses.  

I have never done a long walk despite always planning to when I was younger.   it is now in the diary for May 2017, as I am reaching an age ending in zero.  Trying to catch the first of the nice weather before the midges get horrible. We are going to do the West Highland Way up from Glasgow to Fort William.  You walk alongside Loch Lomond for several miles and then up over Rannoch (?) Moor and through Glencoe.  Going to do it the softies way with the luggage going ahead and hotels if we can find them.  Got 2 brothers interested.  Think I am as fit as you currently.  The more the merrier.

How exciting, I'd love to be able to do that. Rod Paradise or Geo the Sarge may be able to help with advice, Rod is from those parts, whereas Geo is from the posh side, Edinburgh, but he's reasonably normal.

Have to say, I was up at Loch Lomond 40 years ago, camping, but the midges were just unbearable, & we eventually moved on to Fort William.

Glencoe, or specifically The Pass of Glencoe, is, for me, the most spectacular sight & experience in the British Isles, & beats Grand Canyon easily. There's not a more exhilarating piece of road anywhere in Gt Britain, either.

Wow on the birthday - 50 or 60?

Click to see full-size image.

I'm from a fair bit further south actually - on the Southern Upland way not the West Highland. I have done the WHW, but it was 28 years ago. They've banned wild camping on Loch Lomond now  but if you're doing the hotel thing that'll not be a problem. Years ago I'd have sneered at doing it that way, but since my mate and I failed completely at doing the WHW 25 years on walk that we talked about, I can't be as quick to judge.

If you do the walk I'd recommend still carrying a tarp for shelter if needed, a small cooking kit (or kelly kettle) for hot drinks & maybe soups as part of your daysack kit.

The good thing is the harder walking comes in day 3 or so, meaning you're getting into the swing of it by then. You will enjoy it - and the beers on the train back down from Fort William will be some of the best ever in your life as you sit there, smelly and dirty & obviously having done the walk & feel superior to the lazy buggers around you on the train.

* Kelly Kettle  - - a kettle formed round a metal chimney - boils quite quickly with burning just a few twigs/pinecones.

[tikay]

Probably not quite in the intended spirit of adventure, & the great outdoors, but we stayed at Cameron Hose Hotel on Loch Lomond when up there 3 years ago.

Utterly splendid.

The next day we drove on up the A82, which is a gorgeous drive, then, north of Ft William, the A87, which was near deserted.

Now I want to go back, damn you all. Golf, Scotland, work, too much fun & not enough time.  

Click to see full-size image.

[doubleup]

Wow on the birthday - 50 or 60?

rofl - give tikay an inch....

btw on nature films have you watched The Hunt

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06phlm5/the-hunt-2-in-the-grip-of-the-seasons-arctic

Amazing film of a polar bear climbing up cliff faces to eat birds eggs

[Doobs]

Cheers for the advice Rod.   That kettle thing looks good.

Have been working with a Scot most of the year and he had a holiday in the summer in Switzerland.  The reason he went to Switzerland...to run a marathon up a mountain.  

When I mentioned the West Highland Way to him, he had inevitably already done it.  But he also mentioned he had done the bag van and hotel thing too.  Figure if it is good enough for him, sure is good enough for an old fella who struggles to do 2 flights of stairs right now.  

[Doobs]

Wow on the birthday - 50 or 60?

rofl - give tikay an inch....

btw on nature films have you watched The Hunt

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06phlm5/the-hunt-2-in-the-grip-of-the-seasons-arctic

Amazing film of a polar bear climbing up cliff faces to eat birds eggs

I think there is a compliment there in that both of you probably think you have overshot...

Ate at the Boat House at the Cameron a House hotel a couple of years ago.  We were in a lodge on the other side.  There was a seaplane came and parked next door whilst we were there.