Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Hi tikay

On the folly front i see this place once a week and have done for two years my curiosity got the better of me last week and i went for a look at what i now know to be Paxton's Tower
in Llanarthney



when i was looking in to Paxton's Tower i found this folly map site

 http://www.follies.org.uk/follymaps.htm

Hope you are well

DAI

Oh my, superb spot, Dai. Incredible!

You have to wonder at the thought process, too. Apparently, (says Wiki....) it was built to celebrate, or remember, the passing of Lord Nelson in 17xx, so all that stone had to be hauled to the top of that hill by horse & cart, & lifted up manually.

Well done you.

I'm grand, tyvm, though today I have suffered a mini-migraine, my first in many a year, so I'm a tad delicate. I trust you & the lovely Mrs D are in good heart, too.

[tikay]

You’ve started me off now.

That stretch of line, hard against the Coast for many miles, (you also get to see the river & town at Berwick-upon Tweed, & Durham, with its castle sitting majestically above the town), is one of my top 5 railway journeys in the UK.

The journey from Darlington to Edinburgh is truly magnificent. We take the train for an annual trip to the Fringe. The holiday starts as we approach Durham and see the Cathedral, continues with a view up the the Tyne and then that marvellous stretch up along the Northumberland coastline -Alnmouth/ Lindisfarne/Berwick at times the train is almost on the beach.

Your other top 4 UK Train Journeys please Tikay.

Does it include Middlesbrough to Whitby along the Esk?

Absolutely, I always feel exactly that. Apologies, incidentally, for decribing it as a "Castle". Bill Bryson described it as the best Cathedral in britain, bar none, as I recall, so I should have known better.

Best UK Train journeys? (To Bobby, too).

The GNER one as above.

The GWR Devon & Cornwall section, especially when it runs along - right on, @ Dawlish - the coast.

Any of the lines in the West Highlands, maybe Lyle of Lochalsh.

Inverness-Wick-Thurso.

Paddington - Bristol Temple Meads. 

[tikay]

You’ve started me off now.

That stretch of line, hard against the Coast for many miles, (you also get to see the river & town at Berwick-upon Tweed, & Durham, with its castle sitting majestically above the town), is one of my top 5 railway journeys in the UK.

imo its the best ainec!!

It is my second favourite train journey, beaten only by the one between Nice and Monte Carlo

Have to agree with that.

Monte Carlo means either Nice Airport then helicopter across the bay (5 mins), taxi, about 45 minutes - quite an amazing piece of road, in fact, going through, I think, 25 or 26 tunnels under the mountains & rocky outcrops, or the train along the Med coast, which takes forever, but is easily the best option. 

I adore Nice, Cannes, & Monte Carlo, but it is a bit pricey down there.

Dining outside, in Casino Square, at the Cafe de Paris in Monte Carlo is just the greatest, too.

[tikay]

Come for some culture as there seems to be a lot of pants stuff from Cos and Tom this morning.

You mentioned that once Lester Piggott was a hero until being jailed. Who are your modern day heros and heros from history?

Sheesh, what a question!

Not too many in poker, not genuine "heroes", though if pushed for a poker hero I rather admire Joe Beevers, who has kept his nose clean for so long, & runs a very fine business over @ THM. Conducts himself like a gentleman should, too.  He has, on so many occasions, been most hepful to blonde, & to me, & you know where you are with Joe, he would never take liberties, or not with me, anyway.

We actually had 2 little fallouts, the first was the very day the blonde Forum started, & I was in Copenhagen, trying to run the what I believe was the first ever interactive Live Update. He was helping me with all sorts of stuff, & asked, as a favour, if "my" Chip Counts & Updates could also be Posted - by me - on The Hendon Mob Forum (I was a regular on there at the time), to which I readily agreed.

It all went well until a well-meaning chap spammed the blonde Live Update on THM! Yikes, Joe was rightfully a bit miffed with me, as he was bending over backwards to help me, assuming I had put someone up to it.

So I gave him my Computer Terminal, all my passwords & stuff, so he could interrogate the IP addys etc. (He is a bit of a whizz @ internet stuff).

Eventually, he traced the spammer to THE most unlikely of sources.

In fact, the (well-meaning) spammer chap is still a blonde, & a greatly respected one, too. I have never divulged his name, or outed him, but I think he'll smile at this story when he reads it.

We later had a rocky period over P4C, but it's all in the past now.

Away from poker? I'll need to think on that. Loads, really.

Off the top of my head, Brunel, Telford, Attenborough (the nice one, not the luvvy one), Paxman, Crick & Watson (DNA), Mr Kirkland, Warren Buffett, Frank Whittle, Jack Welch (GE), one politician who I'd best not name, (female....), Sir Peter Scott, Jack Allitt, Steven Tyler, Victoria Beckham (for the oddest of reasons!), Christopher Reeve, Barry Hearn, Aunty Doris (my pretend "Mum"), my sister, & Dad, of course. (blonde Member(s) excluded for reasons of embarrassing him/her/them). 

In sport? Daley T, Botham, Gareth Edwards, Mike Hailwood, Phil Read, Joe Mercer (jockey, not footballer), George Duffield, Henry Cecil, Steve Davis, Fred Trueman, Henry Longhurst, Henry Cooper, Fangio, Keke Rosberg.

The list is endless, actually, I'll be adding names all night if I continue, guess I'd better stop.

Great question.

[technolog]

You can't say Victoria Beckham and not explain why!

[Claw75]

(blonde Member excluded for reasons of embarrassing her). 

it's ok, I won't be embarrassed.

[smashedagain]

You can't say Victoria Beckham and not explain why!

+1 very suprised by her inclusion. claw and posh for similar reasons I imagine.

[Claw75]

Healthy & nutritious eating is the key.

Click to see full-size image.

is that Richard Herring?  I feel like i've missed something somewhere.

[tikay]

More likely that I have, Claire, but I believe that is Jamie Oliver, on a tour of Aussie, where he is lecturing on healthy eating. I think.....

Of course, I am probably wrong, and gattters is preparing to give me some serious grief.

[tikay]

The suspense is killing me, put me out of my misery. That is not Jamie, is it?

[Claw75]

More likely that I have, Claire, but I believe that is Jamie Oliver, on a tour of Aussie, where he is lecturing on healthy eating. I think.....

Of course, I am probably wrong, and gattters is preparing to give me some serious grief.

ah yeah, I see it now.  wouldn't have recognised him in a million years though.

don't worry, gatso is on his holidays.

[redsimon]

No Brian Clough on your list?

[redsimon]

More likely that I have, Claire, but I believe that is Jamie Oliver, on a tour of Aussie, where he is lecturing on healthy eating. I think.....

Of course, I am probably wrong, and gattters is preparing to give me some serious grief.

Defiantly Jamie, just shows what too much salad can do to you.

[Delboy]

If it says it is, it must be, but it does not look like one to me.

The Range Rover Convertible, as exhibited in the Geneva Motor Show.

There is also, would you believe, a Bentley SUV? Yikes.

probably the most ugly convertible I have ever seen!

[Delboy]

More likely that I have, Claire, but I believe that is Jamie Oliver, on a tour of Aussie, where he is lecturing on healthy eating. I think.....

Of course, I am probably wrong, and gattters is preparing to give me some serious grief.

Defiantly Jamie, just shows what too much salad can do to you.

Bit unfair the criticism he's been getting. He's 35, it happens to the best of us when we reach 35!