Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

those pics u posted earlier teeks were amazing....had to look up all 25 of them. Unbelievable to think that within the last 100 years poeple still lived like that (the first black student and the lynchings) and the vulture/strarving picture is too sad for words. I think we should just print some more money so everyone has enough, surely nuthin can go wrong with that

Thanks Jeff.

I really believe pictures have more impact than words, especially ones as powerful as those I Posted yesterday. I plan to Diary a lot more photos in 2012. One of my NYE's.

Print more money? That's called "QE" these days, as in "quantative easing", & a lot of that is going off at the moment, as countries grapple with debt, & so called kick-starting economies. Sadly, yes, it will all go wrong, & sooner than most think.

I read somewhere yesterday that Brazil is now loaning the IMF money. Thats "third world" Brazil as of a decade or two ago, now loaning money to the rich & powerful first world nations.

Stranger things have happened, but not many.

How you running? Any better? You playing that Omaha Fessie @ The Vic?

You'll be pleased to know, I'm sure, that Stu Rutter did an awesome job on 865 (your invite remains open, though!), & Stu returns tonight for the Thursday Show, half of which simulcasts onto Sky Sports.

I'm coming in later to meet him, & help him with some technical stuff (rest easy, I'm talking non-poker) as to how he handles himself front-of-camera. He is, I believe, immensely talented at it, once we remove one or two minor rough edges. Nothing would make me happier or more proud than for him to go on from there, he's a good man.

[tikay]

Which reminds me - I must Post my New Years Resolutions. 18 days in, & most remain intact. Almost.

Demba Ba done an interview with your lot over the New Year, I loved this part:

Interviewer : "Have you got a new years resolution for 2012"

Ba (insta replies) : "No"

Interviewer : "Oh, that was said very firmly, why ?"

Ba : "Because my resolutions are everyday, I just try everyday to be good with people"

Doubt I've ever heard that question answered so well, great philosophy to live by.

Like that a lot, Ray.

I'm the same with Christmas, it hacks me off, all this ritualised pressie giving, & I refuse to do it - I like to give pressies when least expected. This year was bad, I received a load of gifts, dozens, & I gave exactly one. But the rest of the year is payback time for me, & that's the fun part, the giving.

When do you move into the new place? Oh, & Malmaison rocks, really good. Enjoy, Mum too.

[tikay]

Played Moortown, Alwoodley and Sand Moor over the years.

Moortown just didn't do it for me. Hard to put my finger on why, but whilst I appreciated the history there was something not right about the experience. Many Top100 courses have increased Green Fees for visitors to levels that defy reason but no doubt accomplish the aim of keeping out the riff-raff and paying for the expensive re-fitting of the Members' Locker Room.

Alwoodley is, for me, reminiscent of Woodhall Spa. I loved it in that masochistic way that I love golf courses that beat me up. Alwoodley is a Mackenzie design of course, Woodhall the work of an amateur.

For a more sensibly priced day's golf, Sandmoor is nearby, another Mackenzie with views that would be worth the walk even without the golf.

Ugh, why did you have to mention Woodhall Spa?

No golf course ever, anywhere, has beaten me up more brutally. And those revetted pot bunkers, they have ladders in them, to help you climb in & out of them! That's just so wrong.

[tikay]

Chew on that one, Gatters - revetted golf bunkers.

Here we are.

[david3103]

The original, Hotchkin, course is flaming marvellous. It's a privilege to be beaten up by.
I've bee fortunate enough to have played it upwards.of a.dozen times, never broken 90, never walked off the course unhappy.

Hate the new course though, all fur coat and no knickers and bad attitude.

[tikay]

The original, Hotchkin, course is flaming marvellous. It's a privilege to be beaten up by.
I've bee fortunate enough to have played it upwards.of a.dozen times, never broken 90, never walked off the course unhappy.

Hate the new course though, all fur coat and no knickers and bad attitude.

Rarely heard golf courses so described, more of the same!

Yes, it's the greatest, even though it beats us all up hard. We used to go to Skeggy 4 times a year for 2 & 3 day golf jaunts, @ the North Shore GC, right on the beach (the wind never stopped howling), & always stopped off @ Woodhall on the way across for 18 holes. North Shore Skeggy, in a howling gale, seemed as soft as you like after the regular Woodhall nightmare.

Young "Junior" on here, Greg Hill, used to regularly go round there in level par, iirc, & his Dad, Jeff, was rarely far off level, he was tidy, too. And very old.

Tristan Macdonald's dad, Ian, a really lovely chap, cashes most years @ the WSOP, lives at Woodhall, I believe. MBN. Tristan, of course, is a big pal of Camel, they did a sort of "play poker all the way round the world for a year & then write a book about it" project a few years back. Can't recall how that ended, but I am sure it commenced at Grosvenor Cardiff, of all places.

I think the only hole I ever got par on at Woodhall Spa - The National Golf Centre, no less, was that short par 3.

[david3103]

My trips to Skegness were always to play Seacroft. A splendid course that on my first couple of trips I scored rather well on. Emboldened by my success and the feeling that if I could get round it in that fashion it was suitable as a venue to invite a prospective customer as a 'treat'.

Wrong!

I sat in the Locker Room after a round that had been as brutal as almost any I'd played (including Seaton Carew my home course and acknowledged as being capable of hosting pro tournaments if only it were elsewhere) and commented to one of the members that the course seemed tougher.
"Aye Lad, we had the Three Counties Championship here at the weekend, it's still the same cut and pin positions"

To say it was brutal would be to do it a disservice, it was, in hindsight, cunning and devious. Fairways narrowed at all the most awkward of spots; pins placed on the 'wrong' side of every green.
My accommodating seaside sweetheart had turned out to be Mata Hari

[tikay]

My trips to Skegness were always to play Seacroft. A splendid course that on my first couple of trips I scored rather well on. Emboldened by my success and the feeling that if I could get round it in that fashion it was suitable as a venue to invite a prospective customer as a 'treat'.

Wrong!

I sat in the Locker Room after a round that had been as brutal as almost any I'd played (including Seaton Carew my home course and acknowledged as being capable of hosting pro tournaments if only it were elsewhere) and commented to one of the members that the course seemed tougher.
"Aye Lad, we had the Three Counties Championship here at the weekend, it's still the same cut and pin positions"

To say it was brutal would be to do it a disservice, it was, in hindsight, cunning and devious. Fairways narrowed at all the most awkward of spots; pins placed on the 'wrong' side of every green.
My accommodating seaside sweetheart had turned out to be Mata Hari

I tried to avoid Seacroft, again, way too tough for me. And anyway, we were a bit of a "working mans" Golf Club, & Seacroft was deemed posh. My golf swing was modelled on a mix between Arnold Palmer & Babe Ruth.

[Acidmouse]

Ralph

Although I agree with your moor allerton comments they are very much struggling financially at the moment!

If the economy doesn't pick up within the next 4 years, I really fear one of the 4 north Leeds big courses will go pop! I imagine that they would be bought as they are all excellent, but my gut tells me MA would be first to feel the strain.

So many golf courses within 5mins drive from me, i think its about 8 if you add wike, headingly, roundhay, brandon to those big 4 you mention. The wait to join MA is silly and its expensive. Glad my house backs on to it for freebies

[kinboshi]

Kodak have filed for bankruptcy.  They invented the portable camera for consumers, they were the name in photography for the mass-market.

In 1993 they'd created the first digital camera for the consumer market, but the board held it back as they were worried it would 'cannibalise' their print photo market.  The idea was taken to Apple instead.

 

[Dingdell]

I know you are not a big cinema goer but I heard an interview about this today and knew instantly you should go and see this - right up your street.

The guy being interviewed on Chris Evans Radio 1 today is a farmer on Dartmoor and Steven Spielberg used his sheep because they are an ancient breed and right for the period. The farmhouse shots are actually in Devon and it involves a man whose horse is taken from him to be used in battle. The trailer comes over as being a bit sugary sweet but it's a good film.

I can't say that your life will be lessened if you don't go but I think you will be very pleased you did. If only for the cinematography/countryside shots.

[tikay]

I know you are not a big cinema goer but I heard an interview about this today and knew instantly you should go and see this - right up your street.

The guy being interviewed on Chris Evans Radio 1 today is a farmer on Dartmoor and Steven Spielberg used his sheep because they are an ancient breed and right for the period. The farmhouse shots are actually in Devon and it involves a man whose horse is taken from him to be used in battle. The trailer comes over as being a bit sugary sweet but it's a good film.

I can't say that your life will be lessened if you don't go but I think you will be very pleased you did. If only for the cinematography/countryside shots.

Thanks Miss D.

You know those puppies, who don't want to be taken for a walk, so they dig their heels in? Well, it may surprise you to know that I'm like that, the more pressure I get, the more stubborn, obdurate, & stupid I become. And every time I turn on the wireless, I get "War Horse" hype. They seem to do this annually, pick a film, & hype it to death.

The Director - some famous chap, apparently - was on R4 yesterday, bla bla bla. It seems we will all be required to see the film & then burst into tears because it's so cute, & sad, & schmultzy. Sod that.

But now you tell me it has lovely scenery & stuff. So many decisions......

What did shock me, listening to the guys on the wireless rattling on, was how many horses died, or were killed, on "Active Service" in the War. (I assume WW1?). Which is tragic, very tragic. But then again, so was the loss of human life.

Pray God we never do that again.

How is the comedic career going?

[TightEnd]

Kodak have filed for bankruptcy.  They invented the portable camera for consumers, they were the name in photography for the mass-market.

In 1993 they'd created the first digital camera for the consumer market, but the board held it back as they were worried it would 'cannibalise' their print photo market.  The idea was taken to Apple instead.

 

Apple will file for Chapter 11 one day.

[TightEnd]

I love Westward Ho!. When my kids were young we would holiday near Woolacombe/Croyde Bay and travel several times over the fortnight to the magnificent Westward Ho! beach with those huge boulders. Without Wiki, I cannot name the geological term for them, but they form a huge break from beach/sea to car park, behind which is a nature centre and the golf course. To get to the car park, having driven through Appledore, you pass a small hut with an old fella hunched in it handing out tickets, and drive straight across several hols of the golf course.

I played Royal North Devon once, with the Father in law. Ralph my favourite stretch was the par 3 hitting towards the sea then a very long par 4 parallel with the beach/dunes. I forget the hole numbers. Tough does not describe it, it could blow a gale on the stillest of days elsewhere. I think I ran out of balls, fortunately with a natural slice I was hitting away from the sea on the run out to the furthest extremeties of the course.

I never knew you had golfing history, Rich. Tell us more.....

Let me guess - you know who designed every Major course?

Not played regularly for about a decade. no time. Before that, a keen hacker. Bought clubs, lessons, the works. Hit it miles. In various directions.

and yes, I have a layman's interest in course design.

[tikay]

Kodak have filed for bankruptcy.  They invented the portable camera for consumers, they were the name in photography for the mass-market.

In 1993 they'd created the first digital camera for the consumer market, but the board held it back as they were worried it would 'cannibalise' their print photo market.  The idea was taken to Apple instead.

 

Was expected, but kind of sad in a way, it was a brand we grew up with. But as you say, they missed their spot, & the world moves fast these days.

I would have thought the brand name had a significant value though, & will almost certainly attract some high offers, so it will not disappear. We built a property for Kodak up near Mansfield quite recently, in the 80's I think.

News of more receiverships & corporate car crashes coming soon, when I get round to writing them.

PS - I'll go wiki Kodak now.