Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Enut]

Afternoon Tikay, Essexphil and anyone else who may or may not know me....

Well we won the tennis, a close game, we lost the first set 6.4 (having been a break up), won the second 6.2 and then won the 10 point tie break decider 10.7. I didn't play very well but my partner played excellently, I'm thinking of buying him a rucksack so he will find it easier to carry me next time! It's always nice to beat two of the club coaches in the club tournament although these were youngsters (19 and 25ish) and will only get better, on the other hand my doubles partner is 35 and I'm 59 (and 'high mileage') and I will only get older, slower and worse, so I suspect it may be different if we play them again next year.

Tikay I suspect you are indeed confusing me with Tomgoodun, we were both in Vegas that year and I know he has played the SPT Brighton event. I am slightly younger and better looking though . Wouldn't it be great if he showed up here? I miss his updates on his family and I hope they are all doing well. I'm sure this little story will make you feel better anyway Tikay -  I went to my cousin's house yesterday evening to watch the boxing, my cousin told me that a few months ago his eldest son had asked if he was related to me, he knew he was related to my mum but didn't know if he was related to me! I've been his 'uncle Paul' all his life, he's 28! I can certainly forgive you not getting all my details spot on, you literally dealt with thousands of poker player over the years, and you're not my nephew!     

If you want to see a Heron get his comeuppance have a look for videos of otters and herons. Otters are lovely animals but too many have been released and they are spreading like wildfire. If they find their way to a lake near you then they will eat the fish first and then start on the birdlife, they are very much an apex predator in the UK and also protected so there is little you can other than otter fence your water and hope they don't get inside the fence. Otter v heron is not even a close match!

[EssexPhil]

Well done.

By way of contrast, here is my only tennis story.

Went to one of those Public Schools that was exceptional academically, but dreamed of having great Rugby players. And has a brilliant "old Boy" network. To pit that into a bit of context, it went co-ed shortly after I left. And the words of the School song was changed from "Floreat Pueri" (let the Boys flourish) to "Floreat discipuli" (let the Students flourish). Until the Girls led a campaign insisting it be changed back.

So-just before an Old Boys Day. I had had delusions of mediocrity on a Tennis Court. And an old Teacher asked if I fancied playing Doubles with a mate against 2 Girls-1 then a 6th Former, the other a former pupil.

Fortunately for me, I keep up to date with my old school. Didn't fancy playing against Sam Smith and Mandy Wainwright-then the British Numbers 1 and 2. Think they found 2 other mugs to get eviscerated

Tom Goodun. Lovely man. Met him and various of his family at SPT Brighton

[Rod Paradise]

Finally, on a sidenote to Monday's golf, Ralph offered us a Lion Bar to share between us, said it had been in his bag a year or more & had frozen/melted loads of times. Looked it too, had a sort of white bloom on it.

Well, I've not really eaten chocolate for 30 or 40 years but it was bloody lovely, I must say.

You should try one. A new product apparently.

Just makes me think of Caddyshack & laugh 

[Rod Paradise]

Re Clapton, as the occasional lefty visitor (formerly regular) I don't think he's suitable for Glastonbury & think he'd face a bit of opposition. He's made excuses for his rant, but never apologised. Even when making the excuses he still managed to say that Enoch Powell was the only politician suitable to run the country.

He stayed well away from politics until Covid when he became an antivaxxer, with reason I suppose as the vaccine is thought to have inflamed an autoimmune condition he has. But posing for pictures with Greg Abbott and other Trump accolytes doesn't do him any favours.

Rolling Stone did a long article about him back during Covid, which covers his issues fairly well IMO.

[Elliot]

He stayed well away from politics until Covid when he became an antivaxxer, with reason I suppose as the vaccine is thought to have inflamed an autoimmune condition he has. But posing for pictures with Greg Abbott and other Trump accolytes doesn't do him any favours.

He had one dose of (one of the various...) vaccine, and then a second later on and had a severe reaction to that, a really nasty reaction, and then just told what had happened to him. It's not quite the same as being an 'anti-vaxxer'. A lot of the thicker press went with that line though cuz that's what they do.

[Rod Paradise]

He stayed well away from politics until Covid when he became an antivaxxer, with reason I suppose as the vaccine is thought to have inflamed an autoimmune condition he has. But posing for pictures with Greg Abbott and other Trump accolytes doesn't do him any favours.

He had one dose of (one of the various...) vaccine, and then a second later on and had a severe reaction to that, a really nasty reaction, and then just told what had happened to him. It's not quite the same as being an 'anti-vaxxer'. A lot of the thicker press went with that line though cuz that's what they do.

He donated to an anti-vax group, released an anti-vax record, refused to perform where they were checking vax records, taking things a bit further than just telling what happened to him.

In the end it's everyone's personal choice whether they listen to him or not, I wasn't a huge fan anyway.

[Pokerpops]

He stayed well away from politics until Covid when he became an antivaxxer, with reason I suppose as the vaccine is thought to have inflamed an autoimmune condition he has. But posing for pictures with Greg Abbott and other Trump accolytes doesn't do him any favours.

He had one dose of (one of the various...) vaccine, and then a second later on and had a severe reaction to that, a really nasty reaction, and then just told what had happened to him. It's not quite the same as being an 'anti-vaxxer'. A lot of the thicker press went with that line though cuz that's what they do.

He donated to an anti-vax group, released an anti-vax record, refused to perform where they were checking vax records, taking things a bit further than just telling what happened to him.

In the end it's everyone's personal choice whether they listen to him or not, I wasn't a huge fan anyway.

I don’t agree with the political stance of a lot of musicians or comedians but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating them. I really appreciate what Clapton has done musically and it would take more than a 30yr old rant and an understandable aversion to a vaccine to make me deny myself the pleasure of listening to his work.

[RED-DOG]

I still listen to Gary Glitter.

[Kev B]

I still listen to Gary Glitter.

🤣🤣🤣

[EssexPhil]

Musicians should be judged primarily on their music.

A lot of music is inspired by the political leanings if their bands and/or songwriters. Left wing, right wing, pro-minorities, nationalistic, whatever. Similarly, it is always going to have more than its fair share of people with an unhealthy interest in young girls. When someone in their 40s/50s is releasing singles aimed at 12 year old girls, that is going to happen.

Gary Glitter. Love his music. Got quite a lot of it. Pioneer of the 2 drummer band. Inspiration for the likes of Adam & the Ants and Bow Wow Wow. The same newspapers who interviewed his very young girlfriend for years without saying a word were the ones to take the moral high ground later. Important to mention that no purchases/streams ever reward him financially.

I love Bob Vylan. Have done for years. Their chant about the IDF was just plain wrong. But we live in a mad world. Where we vilify people who say terrible stuff. While selling guns to people who do terrible stuff, and just watch the deaths piling up. Meanwhile, the Band's sterling work attacking toxic masculinity gets ignored

Clapton? I'm only 62, so I am far too young to appreciate him. But some far right views donkey's ago is not the reason he hasn't been at Glastonbury.

I'm an adult. I listen to people whose views I do not share. Because I learn far more from them than just listening to like-minded people.

Something that is happening less and less.

[Supernova]

I still listen to Gary Glitter.

I still shudder about writing to Jimmy Saville asking to fix it for me with GG.

Luckily my mum put a stop to it there and then.

[tikay]

A month into retirement and it's all going rather wonderfully so far. I thought I'd struggle to fill my days but so far it's been non-stop, Paris last weekend, then golf every day this week & poker last night.

Seems to me that a variation of Parkinson's Law is in play here.  


"work doing nothing expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"

That continues to prove to be so, so true.

I'm now over 2 months into the Great Retirement Adventure & I've barely had a blank day yet. As a result, I'm behind with replies (sorry), with Updates, & with replying to PM's, WhatsApp Messages & e-Mails. Bear with me please.

It does not get any quieter in the next few days either. Poker at DTD later today, the Sunday Special or whatever it's called, Goliath at Coventry tomorrow, & "the Lads" annual Golf Day at Rushcliffe on Tuesday.

There's a private betting market for Tuesday's Golf Day, & despite being almost the highest handicapper, I'm also the outsider in the betting. Marv.


  

[tikay]

Two points about that Betting Market.

Tom at 12/1 is a steal. Sadly, it's a "closed market" for the players only, but backing him off his current handicap is printing.

And as an aside, can anyone work out the over-round on that market?

[tikay]

So I'm off to catch up on WhatsApp & PM replies first. Before I do though, a little question for our Legal Correspondents.

A month or so ago, we went to Paris one weekend for a sort of retirement celebration, & did it in style - stayed at a nice hotel, posh food & first class train tickets.

As I mentioned in a recent post, we had a dreadful experience at Gare du Nord station in Paris after our return train was delayed & we were herded around like cattle in the departure lounge for several hours & our train was badly delayed. It happens, first world problems & all that.

We had reserved seats in "Premium" (1st Class) but EuroStar got themselves in a mess & we were transferred to Economy.

Not a big deal really, but Gill is a bit like Tom, she can be stubborn & difficult at times, (not as bad as Tom to be fair) & she does not like being ripped off by Big Business.

So she claimed compensation, which delayed &/ downgraded Passengers are entitled to do.

Very kindly, EuroStar acknowledged the Claim by return, adding that "we promise to deal with your claim within 28 working days". Very nice of them.

Gill waited best part of a month, then rung them up, "wtf?" sort of thing. Rather haughtily, they informed her that they had a huge backlog & were still dealing with Compo claims from 2 weeks earlier. Corporate Speak for GTFO.

Eventually, she got a reply a few days ago...

[tikay]

Bit hard to read, that, but the key part says....


"....I can confirm as an apology we can offer you compensation with an e-voucher for £122.50 each.

Please note we cannot offer a cash alternative."



Can they (legally) DO that?

We don't want an e-Voucher, we want the compo in cash.

Gill's not having it, she's pushed back & told me that if they still refuse to refund us in cash, she'll do a chargeback with the Bank as she paid by Card.

None of which makes any sense to me.

Anyway, my question is, surely they are obliged to give us our refund in cash, rather than e-Vouchers that have to be spent with them?