Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

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Excuse cumbersome uploading, struggling with file sizes.

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Ralph explained that they are Egyptian Geese who typically have a clutch of half a dozen chicks but most fail to survive a week, usually leaving just one who then gets all the dinner he or she wants.  

Nature sure works in weird & wonderful ways.

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I'm not sure we have too many avian enthusiasts here, but in addition to Ralph's excellent spot, my best memory of 5 rounds of golf this week has been watching at close quarters some Oystercatchers at Breadsall Priory GC on the series of ponds between the 15th & 16th holes.  

Trevor Pearson (aka Moany Trev, aka typhoon13) first alerted me to them some weeks ago, such a thrill, not sure I've ever seen any up close before, certainly not inland.

The excitement stepped up this week as there appears to be two Oystercatcher pairs on the same nursery pond (a bit strange as they are very territorial) both of whom are now accompanied by 2 or 3 chicks.

Bit of a surprise too to find inland Oystercatchers, although Wiki suggests it's not that unusual. More surprising, perhaps, is that as far as I can tell, they don't eat Oysters. Probably just as well, as the only Oysters in Derbyshire are in Waitrose.

Really beautiful little birds, about the size of magpies, & like magpies are predominantly black & white. Big long gangly legs (for wading I suppose) & a long, bright red bill, which reminds me of Pingu.

A memory forever.


PS - not my photos, I'm worse at taking photos than playing golf.


    

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I'll catch up on all the Glasto comments next, together with my best Glasto '25 memories, though might not be today as I am pokering at 3pm & I need a nap as I never got home until beyond 3am, this morning. This retirement lark is not easy y'know.

[typhoon13]

And he cashed yet again last night  15/313

I do  not like Magpies

[typhoon13]

And yet another cash 13/226

DTD Dynamo

[Jon MW]

Ralph (karabiner) sent me some lovely photos from Wollaton Park Golf Club where's he's been a member for a very long time I believe.

The Course sits is overlooked by the beautiful Wollaton Hall & is famous for the herds of Deer that roam around freely. 

Has there always been a golf course there?

I took these about 10 years ago

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Did I just not notice a massive golf course next to it?

[RED-DOG]

And yet another cash 13/226

DTD Dynamo

And another tonight.

I reckon he must be cheating.

[Karabiner]

Ralph (karabiner) sent me some lovely photos from Wollaton Park Golf Club where's he's been a member for a very long time I believe.

The Course sits is overlooked by the beautiful Wollaton Hall & is famous for the herds of Deer that roam around freely. 

Has there always been a golf course there?

I took these about 10 years ago

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Did I just not notice a massive golf course next to it?

The golf club about to celebrate it's centenary, but it is a big park.

[Jon MW]

Ralph (karabiner) sent me some lovely photos from Wollaton Park Golf Club where's he's been a member for a very long time I believe.

The Course sits is overlooked by the beautiful Wollaton Hall & is famous for the herds of Deer that roam around freely. 

Has there always been a golf course there?

I took these about 10 years ago

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Did I just not notice a massive golf course next to it?

The golf club about to celebrate it's centenary, but it is a big park.

Thanks, my family also come from Nottingham - which is another reason that maybe I should have noticed.

But, to be fair, I wasn't ever really looking

[celtic]

Happy anniversary to your diary. 💚

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Well I did a list of prompts, a sort of note to self, on June 30th, but I've not made much progress, have I?


Retirement, & what it means. It's HUGE to me, a 100% lifestyle change, as I'll try to explain.

Vegas 2025 summary.

Service Levels

Paris

The Hermes shock experience.

Golf.

The elephant in the room.


Ooh, forgot a very important one.

EDIT - Addictions. Very very big one that. For almost everyone that reads this, as well as me. 

EDIT - forgot another one. BOOKS.


Think I covered Vegas summary & Retirement in general, & that's about it so far. I blame the elephant in the room which temporarily interrupted my new golf, poker, travel & IDGAF lifestyle. 

On we go.

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By way of seeing if there are still any readers out there, think I'll start with a Caption Competition. Try not to be too rude, right?

On Monday I played golf with Ralph (karabiner) & Tom (Red).

For those not familiar - the closure of the Sky Community means we have a few new & very welcome Member here - the distinguished looking gent on the right as we look is Ralph Shalson, aka karabiner, & the gnarly looking bloke in the middle holding his willy is Tom, aka Red-Dog. I'm the young cool dude, obv.

I swear to God we've all shrunk (in height) in the last decade. Pretty sure I used to be 5'-10", & I'm barely 5'-8" now & the shortest of all three.



 

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I've not seen Ralph for a very long time, maybe 10 years or more. He looks in splendid nick - he & I are of similar age I think. He never had the goatee before, tells me he grew it during Lockdown. Put me a bit in mind of the late Eddie Jordan actually.

Ralph is a Member at Wollaton Park GC, a splendidly old-fashioned Parkland Course with a ton of wildlife.

He's the golfer I want to be. Classic swing, drives mostly middle of the fairway, equally good at pitching, chipping, putting & scrambling generally, & somehow keeps knocking in Pars seemingly without effort. Meanwhile, Tom & I huff & puff & spray our drives in all directions. Tom's waywardness off the Tee is worse than mine, but only because of that increased length = increased dispersion thing.  

A stunning golf course, with wildlife galore, all of it amazingly tame. These men deer things were stood just 5 or 6 feet away & never batted an eyelid. (Photos by Tom).

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