Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

So I spent a quite wonderful hour at Tom's (Red-Dog) place yesterday, & enjoyed a cuppa with he & Mrs Red. I was thoroughly hacked off with some blonde forum hoohah, & I just wanted a break from the hassle, so Tom was burdened by me. When the Forum kicks off, it gets much wider than often realised, because I'm usually pals with whoever is involved, so there's PM's & e-Mails, high-octane slanging matches over the 'phone & texts galore. I loathe every moment of these things, it's time stolen from my life. (This of course applies to all the Mods,as well, some of whom get more abuse than I do).

So a visit to Tom was just the job, & I'll be boring you with stories about it for days. (You don't have to read it, after all).

So we are sat in his field, outside his caravan, totally quiet, no "human" noise whatsoever. heaven. I've endured "muzak" everywhere I go recently, Vegas hotels, The G-Casino in Luton, taxis, shops, trains, bloody everywhere. It's not that I object to music, it's that a) I prefer to choose what I listen to, when, & at what volume, & b), as I'm in possession of a mind, small though it may be, I hate & violently resist having anything imposed upon me.

So there we were, sat there in perfect peace, when I looked up & saw a huge bird, & Mrs Red says, all matter of fact, "oh, that's the heron". "Oh that's the heron". WHAT? I've only ever seen one Heron "in nature" before, it was a huge thrill for me. They are magnificent - grey, & very big. In flight, the legs are tucked together behind them, arrow straight, & the wings flap oh so gently. When they land, they land as softly as a butterfly, quite the opposite to the albatross, which lands via a sort of controilled crash & does two somersaults. Or swans, who have to land at speed, & graceful as swans are, their landings, on land or water, are far from graceful although very comic.

In one of the superb Diaries by the politician Alan Clark, he describes how one morning, fed up with a bird which had been eating his koi carp, he waited one morning with a shotgun to kill the bugger, & somehow ended up shooting a heron by mistake. After which the animal-loving Alan (I know, it sounds illogical, but he was), went to his bedroom & cried his eyes out.

I have so many memories of it all from yesterday, but the memory of the Heron will never leave me. Worth it for that alone. When I retired, a tour of Scotland, (right round the coast, a 6 month or more affair) to just watch the wildlife & scenery, was high on the agenda. It don't fit in with life at present, but one day, quite soon I think, I'll bid goodbye to poker & do my nature tour. On days like yesterday, "soon" becomes "sooner".

Anyway, Tom told me the story of how Heron's catch fish. They are not dive-bombers as some birds are, they are way too big & ill-designed for that, but they have the guile of a fly-fisherman. So they pick a spot in shallow water & just stand there. They always make sure the sun is behind them, so the shadow they cast prevents glare on the water surface, & the Heron can better "look through" his shadow into the water. When they spot a nearby fish, usually fairly static in the still water, they very deliberately move one foot slightly. This disturbs the water a bit, & as the default move for fish is to swim into any current, the fish moves towards the Heron, & hey presto, Mr Heron has his dinner. How extraordinary, & how on earth do they learn to do that? Instinct I guess but a pretty neat trick.

[tikay]

I'm never gonna emulate Kev's astounding health kick, but someone told me recently that a good walk every day, & eating better, would be a good thing.

So I've just walked all the way to - & back! - the KFC, from the Village Hotel. It's approximately a mile each way, I'd say.

Considering the fact that one digestive biscuit provides you with enough calories to walk 4 miles, I think you would need to do a round trip to Watford Gap services before you would be +EV

I already do that trip three times a week, though mostly by car. That must be a few calories worth, surely? They do lovely sausage rolls at Watfod Gap, by the way.


Mostly by car?


 

[RED-DOG]

I'm never gonna emulate Kev's astounding health kick, but someone told me recently that a good walk every day, & eating better, would be a good thing.

So I've just walked all the way to - & back! - the KFC, from the Village Hotel. It's approximately a mile each way, I'd say.

Considering the fact that one digestive biscuit provides you with enough calories to walk 4 miles, I think you would need to do a round trip to Watford Gap services before you would be +EV

I already do that trip three times a week, though mostly by car. That must be a few calories worth, surely? They do lovely sausage rolls at Watfod Gap, by the way.



 

Mostly by car?

[tikay]

I'm never gonna emulate Kev's astounding health kick, but someone told me recently that a good walk every day, & eating better, would be a good thing.

So I've just walked all the way to - & back! - the KFC, from the Village Hotel. It's approximately a mile each way, I'd say.

Considering the fact that one digestive biscuit provides you with enough calories to walk 4 miles, I think you would need to do a round trip to Watford Gap services before you would be +EV

I already do that trip three times a week, though mostly by car. That must be a few calories worth, surely? They do lovely sausage rolls at Watfod Gap, by the way.



 

Mostly by car?

Well, technically, yes. The majority of times.....the great majority, I admit.

[tikay]

OK, I'm off to slay some dragons in the Walsall £300. Back quite soon, I expect.

[Laxie]

Best of luck!!! 

[Tonji]

Loving this thread Tikay, I hope you keep finding the time to continue writing about Life, The Universe & Poker.

[DesD]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

[tikay]

Back, which says it all.

In short, doubled up to 29k, with 21 left, 18 paid, & decided I'll try & (minor) cash before getting too creative. But when I found a Raiser to 6k & J-J, I thought I could get him off anything except maybe 3 hands if I pushed. I did, he called with A-Q & housed up, & that was that. I think I should have called to take a flop & then re-assessed things (an A & a Q both fell, so an easy Pass there). I think "unforced error" is the verdict, though part of my thinking was my RR had a decent chance of getting him off his hand. I need to consider calling in these spots more often, I tend to think Pass or Raise.

Both my big Pots today were coin flips - 8-8 & J-J, (I re-popped & got called both times) & I suppose the maths of repeated coin-flips against deeper stacks is not good.

Des Jonas bust a few hands before me to my nemesis too, and he had J-J as well, against QQ on that occasion.

Average is around 60k, & the guy who done me - nice chap - must have 150k+!

Thewy is yoyoing, he also got done by Billy Big Stack, who played 7-7 in a very creative way, but Thewster still has 30k+, & that's plenty for him.

Terrific comp, it really is.

[tikay]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

Unbelievably, I'm a month or so short of a birthday with a nought on the end.........Where did the years all go?

[DesD]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

Unbelievably, I'm a month or so short of a birthday with a nought on the end.........Where did the years all go?

Forget about the years gone....sounds to me as if you are on the button to have a blast for at least another nought or two.   That's +ev over a lot of other 79 year olds.......



LOL......

[Karabiner]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

Unbelievably, I'm a month or so short of a birthday with a nought on the end.........Where did the years all go?

Don't worry Tony I've been told that life begins at forty 

[tikay]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

Unbelievably, I'm a month or so short of a birthday with a nought on the end.........Where did the years all go?

Don't worry Tony I've been told that life begins at forty 

I want to marry you Ralph, & have lots of babies.

PS - You can be Mum.

[amcgrath1uk]

This thread MUST go on Best of Blonde

After spending a quiet and uneventful Sunday afternoon reading ALL of the Best of Blonde threads, this ranks up there with the best of them

[RED-DOG]

Great thread Tony, informative and entertaining.  I hope when I get up to...ahem, 42.....that I can still duck and dive as much as you do 

Unbelievably, I'm a month or so short of a birthday with a nought on the end.........Where did the years all go?

Don't worry Tony I've been told that life begins at forty 

I want to marry you Ralph, & have lots of babies.

PS - You can be Mum.

Yes, but could you keep him in the manner to which he has become accustomed?