Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[celtic]

Don't drive me to Tom's diary by not updating please!

[tikay]

Don't drive me to Tom's diary by not updating please!

Ha, I'm SO bad.

I was down at Brighton from Thursday until late Monday, so that's 5 days of excuses....

[Mohican]

So how was 2022 for you Tony?

Hi Vinni,

The short answer is that, in many ways, it was one of the best years of my life as I got all sorts of self-inflicted problems sorted out, & it felt great. Beating adversity, even when it's self-inflicted, is the best feeling ever.

If you want a longer answer, just say, & I'll bore you all to bits. Don't blame me if it's a yawn-fest though.  

And how about you, & the family? You still with Team Galfond?

I almost wish I’d not said anything now, as it’s kind of hard to explain without sounding all pretentious, but I’m committed now, so I’ll try.

As I said, I got all sorts of personal stuff sorted out. I’m terrible with doing paperwork, domestic husbandry & stuff, I sort of let problems develop. In late 2021 I had moved back to Derbyshire, well overdue for all sorts of reasons, & the next job was to get the house sorted, which I did, & then I got stuck into getting my personal affairs in order. I had all manner of things I needed to sort, & I attacked them all & cleared everything. Did it all myself, too. Boy, that felt so good. And suddenly, I was in good shape, no worries, everything was cool. It felt very odd, bit it was - & is - glorious.

And then I woke up one morning & had one of those epiphany things. I mean, it was staring me in the face, but life races past & you don’t realise. All of life’s great challenges – school, getting an enjoyable job/career that pays enough to live comfortably, buying my first car, buying a house, paying - & paying off – the mortgage, etc etc, are all in the rear-view mirror. Every box ticked. And with that came the realisation that I no longer have any worries or stresses, my health is OK, & I have enough money to get by comfortably. I’ve arrived in Easy Street!

But I’m in my mid 70’s, & we only live so long, so it’s time to chill, no worries, no stresses, & just enjoy every day. I mean literally. Enjoy every day. I’m a born whittler, if there’s nothing to worry about I find something. And since then, I really have enjoyed every day. I get up at 7am, go to bed at 2am & enjoy every minute in between. If there’s Live sport on telly, mainly football, golf, horse racing, I watch it, & have a little “interest” bet. Dooobsy, our resident actuary, said to Tom a few weeks ago that the average lifespan these days is around 85 years. Deduct a few years for 50 years of smoking & a dodgy lifestyle, & I might well still have a good few years yet. So I decided I’d make a conscious effort to enjoy them. And woe betide anyone who tries to stop me. Time to be selfish, do what I want, when I want.

I did have a few worries, but I’m jumping ahead now. Gill was unwell for much of last year, but she’s fine now. And my Contract at Sky was up in January of this year. Why would they still want to employ someone of my vintage? I did not need the job financially, but I wanted it. Badly. I love working, always have done. But they did, a new Contract was offered (& accepted with indecent haste, in case they changed their mind) from 1st February this year for 12 months, so that’s me sorted until early 2024, health permitting. (I began 2022 with COVID, & ended it with a dreadful bout of bronchitis, but in between no other issues at all).  A few weeks ago they told me I’ve got the Vegas gig again too. BOOM. I’m in my 17th year with Sky now, it’s a miracle really. I’d retired from proper working in 2004, & suddenly it’s 2023. And what a 19 years they were.

Anyway, back to last Spring/Summer. Now my idle mind started wandering.


TBC…

Gd to hear you're in fine fettle and have squared everything away. In that process of squaring stuff away, I assume you put together a staking proposal for Vegas and have simply forgotten to post it? 
yours with money to burn,
Carl.

[booder]

Gotta love Ali


Grosvenor Poker
  ·
WOW!!
Ali Mallu was our 14th place finisher in the GUKPT Blackpool Main Event.
Steve Warburton makes it 20k from under the gun... Ali rips in 880,000!!
Steve snaps with ACES and Ali has 10-5 off!! He doesn't get there, despite flopping a gut shot and busts 14th for £4,030

[tikay]

Gotta love Ali


Grosvenor Poker
  ·
WOW!!
Ali Mallu was our 14th place finisher in the GUKPT Blackpool Main Event.
Steve Warburton makes it 20k from under the gun... Ali rips in 880,000!!
Steve snaps with ACES and Ali has 10-5 off!! He doesn't get there, despite flopping a gut shot and busts 14th for £4,030

Amazing scenes.....



https://clips.twitch.tv/SneakyOptimisticAlpacaDoubleRainbow-yNDdsTp5FuawD_at

[booder]

An unidentified Class 45 awaits departure with a 'Up' express from Bakewell Station, Derbyshire, in this 1965/2023 blending. 🙂
Original image Copyright, G. Sheldon.

[tikay]

An unidentified Class 45 awaits departure with a 'Up' express from Bakewell Station, Derbyshire, in this 1965/2023 blending. 🙂
Original image Copyright, G. Sheldon.

That's a wonderful image Boo. Class 45's were so cool, & made a lovely growly sound.

[booder]

An unidentified Class 45 awaits departure with a 'Up' express from Bakewell Station, Derbyshire, in this 1965/2023 blending. 🙂
Original image Copyright, G. Sheldon.

That's a wonderful image Boo. Class 45's were so cool, & made a lovely growly sound.

I thought maybe you had driven over this bridge , your neck of the woods isn't it ?

[tikay]

An unidentified Class 45 awaits departure with a 'Up' express from Bakewell Station, Derbyshire, in this 1965/2023 blending. 🙂
Original image Copyright, G. Sheldon.

That's a wonderful image Boo. Class 45's were so cool, & made a lovely growly sound.

I thought maybe you had driven over this bridge , your neck of the woods isn't it ?

Ha, yes, frequently, it's about 15 or 20 miles north of here.

Unrelated, but how is your health now?

[booder]

All good at the moment thank you.

[celtic]

Hi

[tikay]

Hi

Hi Vinni...


Hi Vinni….

Blimey, where did that 6 weeks go? And I can’t remember where I’m up to. Oh yes, I’d arrived in Easy Street.

What happened next? Lots, but lets do this for starters.

Gill & I often went for a meal at Morley Hayes, they have some lovely eateries there. And I suddenly remembered that I used to play golf there, until I packed it in around 20 years ago for a variety of reasons – mainly, I suppose, because I was bad. And I do mean bad. Really bad.

So I went out for a ride one sunny afternoon in August, & found myself at Morley Hayes. The 1st Tee is beautiful, lovely well-tended flower beds, a big wide fairway, nicely downhill, & a bench seat by the tee, where I decided to sit for a while. To the left of the fairway there was a herd of deer, tails twitching, on the fairway itself, a bunch of geese contentedly grazing, & on the pond a pair of swans. And as I watched, a Kestrel flew by at eye height just a few yards in front of me. I was smitten. I had to take up golf again, as much for the wildlife, birds & sheer beauty of the courses as the golf itself.

First though, I promised myself I'd not take it up again unless I could be a lot better. Still bad, but better bad.

[tikay]

Golf is hard. I had no desire to be good at it, but I wanted to be able to hack the ball round without duffing, topping, thinning, chunking, whiffing & generally messing up every other shot. Just let me hit the ball reasonably clean.

So I looked out my golf bag & clubs, which had lain untouched for over 20 years & off I toddled to the Driving Range. 

At first, I could hit my Irons fine, but could not hit my Woods to save my life. Fast forward almost 6 months, now I can hit any of my Woods cleanly, pretty much every time but can’t hit a clean Iron shot to save my life. For Woods, I have a 7, a 5, a 3 & a Driver. Pretty sure the 7 Wood is a Ladies Club, but I love it & hit it reasonably well. I can even get my Driver away pretty consistently. I’m woefully short, but no matter. Luckily, I don’t slice or hook & I’m, mostly straight-ish. But then I lost the ability to hit my Irons. And I do mean lost the ability, I simply could not hit a clean Iron shot. Eventually, I solved the Irons issue, though there’s an oddity, in that it’s MUCH easier to hit practice shots off a nice bristly mat in a Driving Range Bay than on an actual Course.

So, since about early September, I’ve been going to the Driving Range 4 or 5 times every week.

[tikay]

Cost? I dread to think. Lets have a look.

Each trip to the range is around £8, (£5 for a basket of balls, £3 for the diesel to drive there & back).  Let’s say 110 visits @ £8 per visit = £880.

New Driver (cheapo), £150

New 3 Wood (cheapo), £130

Chipper. (A Club a proper golfer would not be seen dead with, but I love it). £40.

Golf Trousers (cheapo) £20.

Poncy white golf shoes (cheapo, Sports Direct), £45.

Membership of the 9 hole course at Morley Hayes (which gives 8 free rounds plus they give you a Handicap) £60.

6 x 18 hole rounds at various Courses, say 6 x £20.

Buggy Hire, 4 x £25.

Golf lessons – 3 x £50

And all that comes to….. well a lot. But worth every last penny.

[tikay]

I discovered Golf Tuition Videos on You Tube. Dear God, don’t EVER try watching them. They are all 12 to 15 minutes long, endlessly repetitive, all give contrasting advice. And worst of all, you watch for 13 minutes & get 11 minutes of waffle & 2 minutes of advice. SO annoying.