Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Haven't played poker in agessince this week but been enjoying a bit of zoom plo on stars this week with a small profit. Seriously tempted to crawl out of the woodwork and use it for a shot at tonight's game. Let me know if you're going and we can have that long overdue coffee and catch up beforehand x

Ha!

Might just do that. Claire, At-It-Bradley, what a line up. Make sure you wear some knickers though.

You play Zoom PLO? Good lord. For some reason that surprises me.

[Gamblor21]

Haven't played poker in agessince this week but been enjoying a bit of zoom plo on stars this week with a small profit. Seriously tempted to crawl out of the woodwork and use it for a shot at tonight's game. Let me know if you're going and we can have that long overdue coffee and catch up beforehand x

Ha!

Might just do that. Claire, At-It-Bradley, what a line up. Make sure you wear some knickers though.

You play Zoom PLO? Good lord. For some reason that surprises me.

Thanks for the info. I'll see you there then, that'll do me. Hopefully I manage to get to the 5 card variant before I've used both entries...

[Tal]

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Click to see full-size image.

Ha!

Can't believe Paul Jackson (the poker player on the Show last night) had never heard of Westwood.

I was quite surprised to learn that he (Westwood, not ActionJack) is the son of the Bishop of Peterborough, & educated at Norwich School of all places, which sounds frightfully dull.

I wrote somewhere yesterday that the day I retired I'd switch the internet off & never switch it on again.

What a ridiculous thing to say, no idea what I was thinking. Guess the constant hassle on blonde, mostly Fred these days, & getting caught as the meat in the sandwich between mutual friends does my head in sometimes. Everyone takes everything so damn serious. 

The internet is awesome, not sure how I'd cope without it really. Must be far & away the most useful invention in my life time, & not even close. It's all knowing, all consuming.

Took me a whole minute to find that info about Westwood. As a kid, I'd have had to spend all day in the Public Library to learn that.

Talking of how totally awesome (note totally) the internet is, & how one story can lead to another, & another, I went on one of those internet discovery journeys yesterday, prompted by a sort of regular news story.

Look away now, this is going to be both boring & awesome.....

[bookiebasher]

I wrote a story about Ian "Belly" Oldershaw next door this morning. Anyone remember him?



   

Nope. Can't say I remember him at all.

link plz.

I remember him , got a photo somewhere ,

http://www.trophiesandmedals.com/@@content/pub/image_7837/FA%20CUP%20TROPHY%20L567_155007.jpg

[tikay]

So, Eastbourne Pier got ravaged by fire on Wednesday.

BIG news on the South Coast.

Brits seem to love seaside piers, not quite sure why.

They seem to burn down with predictable regularity, as if they are going out of fashion.

Most of them are "Listed" Structures, more so Eastbourne after the fire presumably.

Click to see full-size image.

 

[tikay]

Locals were, variously, outraged, bemused & indifferent.

One local dignitary prayed - literally - for it's survival.

A couple who were due to get married on the pier next month (what, why?) burst into mutual floods of tears.

One young lady, seemingly indiffernt to the piers fate, posted a pic on Twitter with the comment....

shits on fire, yo

For which she got abused wholesale by the Pier sympathisers. 

The photo was a right shocker though, who could not be mortified & upset by this quite dreadful photo?

Click to see full-size image.

Shocking, abso schocking.

[Doobs]

Locals were, variously, outraged, bemused & indifferent.

One local dignitary prayed - literally - for it's survival.

A couple who were due to get married on the pier next month (what, why?) burst into mutual floods of tears.

One young lady, seemingly indiffernt to the piers fate, posted a pic on Twitter with the comment....

shits on fire, yo

For which she got abused wholesale by the Pier sympathisers. 

The photo was a right shocker though, who could not be mortified & upset by this quite dreadful photo?

Click to see full-size image.

Shocking, abso schocking.

Whilst I have every sympathy with the pier's owners, that must be one of my favourite tweets ever.  The line, her face... People need to learn to smile at adversity.  What use is getting down about stuff?  Just going to make you miserable. 

[tikay]

Now we find who designed all these highly flammable - or is it inflammable? - piers.

As Brunel is to railways, & Archibald Leitch to football stadia, is a Gent, we discover, to seaside piers. His name - though you all knew this, I'm sure, is Eugenius Birch.

That was what old Eug did - design piers.

Amazingly, he ended up designing 14 British seaside Piers. If you have ever seen a pier, it's likely you've seen Eug's work.

He did all sorts actually.

Opposing the then convention, he designed a railway carriage with the wheels not astride, as was the then custom, but underneath. That'll never catch on mate.

A very clever & interesting chap, by all accounts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenius_Birch


Not the most cheerful looking soul though, it must be said.




Surely worthy of praise, though. Always rely on the Brighton & Hove News for praise.


http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2014/07/31/in-praise-of-eugenius-birch/32556

[tikay]

Locals were, variously, outraged, bemused & indifferent.

One local dignitary prayed - literally - for it's survival.

A couple who were due to get married on the pier next month (what, why?) burst into mutual floods of tears.

One young lady, seemingly indiffernt to the piers fate, posted a pic on Twitter with the comment....

shits on fire, yo

For which she got abused wholesale by the Pier sympathisers. 

The photo was a right shocker though, who could not be mortified & upset by this quite dreadful photo?

Click to see full-size image.

Shocking, abso schocking.

Whilst I have every sympathy with the pier's owners, that must be one of my favourite tweets ever.  The line, her face... People need to learn to smile at adversity.  What use is getting down about stuff?  Just going to make you miserable. 

Best Tweet ever imo, I loved it. But each to their own, & many were aghast, aghast I tell you.

The pier's poor owners? Hold up, I'm coming to that.

[Tal]

Inflammable piers?

I know of an inflammatory one

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

The Pier, according to The Times, is owned by Cruden Leisure, who are a subsidiary of Crown Leisure.

What they do?

They operate, nationally, Amusement Arcades. Supply the staff, the change machines, that sort of thing. What a fascination to see how different fiolks earn a living.

But the internet tells us that Eastbourne Pier is owned by "Six Piers Ltd", who it seems own 7 piers. I jest not. Can't seem to find much about them though, Companies House stuff apart. Come on google, do buck up.

Back in the 50's & 60's, amusement arcades & slot machines were all operated by outfits like Atlantic Machines. Which, of course, was a front for gangsters such as Mad Frankie Fraser, Frankie was part owner of Atlantic machines.

They had a great business model. Approach a pub landlord who had slot machines. Offer to replace them with Frankie's own machines, & insure them for free. If not, no prob guv, but it'd be a real shame if your machines get smashed to bits tonight, eh?

Proper villain, Frankie.

Never quite understood why he was called "Mad", seems such a friendly looking chap.

[tikay]

Inflammable piers?

I know of an inflammatory one

Click to see full-size image.

Not bad, but I have a better "piers" pun on the way, designed solely to swoosh Tom. And it will.

[RED-DOG]

Never quite understood why he was called "Mad", seems such a friendly looking chap.

Has anyone ever seen Frankie and Ralph in the same room?

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Now we find that, incredibly, there is a National Piers Society. No, there is.


http://www.piers.org.uk/

Not just piers, either, they do jetties, too. Jetties. A directory of jetties.

Hundreds of them. Someone went right round the UK cataloging hundreds of jetties. There are scores of them on The Thames alone, look.....


http://www.piers.org.uk/pierpages/NPS0smallpiers.html

How totally great is that?

Got a Twitter page & everything.

@PiersSociety

Their Twitter page lit up yesterday, what with Eastbourne & everything. 301 Followers, too. What a day they all had.

Wike page? Of course!
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Piers_Society


Got some posh & famous Patrons, too - Timothy West, Gyles Brandeth, & Posh Bird Dame Joan Bakewell.

What a shame, though, that the Chairman is a mere CBE. It would be totally awesome if the Piers Society were to be be Chaired by a Knight of the realm, it'd be almost like Lord Judge Judge.