Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

OK, it's own-up time for one blondeite I met in Luton tonight.

"Do you know the blondeite ByronicAcid?" says he.......

Take a bow, Axel Marnit.

[RED-DOG]

OK, it's own-up time for one blondeite I met in Luton tonight.

"Do you know the blondeite ByronicAcid?" says he.......

Take a bow, Axel Marnit.

English please!

[tikay]

So British Airways & Virgin colluded to add Fuel Surcharges to the cost of Air Travel, BA were fined a total of about £220 million, & Wooly Jumper got off scot free because his flunkeys blew the whistle on BA. There's justice. NOT.

I delclare an interest here. I'm a big BA Fan, & have been a shareholder since Day One, I have a few thousand "ordinary" shares, & owned 5,000 Convertible Prefs for their full life until maturity.

As to Wooly Jumper, well, I won't smear the name of the man convicted by Customs & Excise for dodging Import Duty, merely say that his years hob-nobbing with politicians & "Ex-President-cum-Clearer-Up of the Mess he himself made in Iraq Blair" in particular have been well spent.

Why on earth we need Government Agencies (in effect) to try to control prices never ceases to amaze me. Supply & Demand will outwit any price-fixing - always. Microsoft suffered the same fate. Governments seem jealous of auccessful businesses.

The Government have made such a pigs ear of running our Railways, gawd help them if the truth ever came out. The Channel Tunnel has been open for decades, but the High-Speed Rail Link to London is still not open. Demand is growing massively, we are told not to fly (carbon inefficient) or drive (ditto, & the roads are shite), & we have a prime asset in the railway infrastructure. Yet TOC's (Train Operating Companies) cannot operate any extra trains, as there are no spare carriages available. They lease Carriages from "Roscos" (Rolling Stock Leasing Companies), such as Porterbrook, Angel, or HSBC Rail. And the ROSCO's wont Lease or buy any further carriages unless the Government guarantee their life-use. What a load of twaddle, & a licence to print money, profit guaranteed, thanks to Government stupidity. The Government issued it's Rail White Paper last week, another £200 million in investment for rolliing stock was promised. Over the next ten years. TEN YEARS! £200 million will buy about 120 carriages, thats about 20 "sets". 20 extra trains won't make an iota of difference, they need to think 400 & then some more. But the REAL reason the Government are trying to choke rail traffic is because the Network is overcrowded, but the answer is simple, invest more in it. They are investing in eco-unfriendly Airports & Roads, but the Railways? Nah. It's a scandal of immense proportions, & the Goverrnment should leave business to businessmen, & stop interfering in things they don't understand, Procastrination is all in Government.

[byronkincaid]

"Do you know the blondeite ByronicAcid?"

Untrustworthy, Never lend him any money, you'll never get it back

[ifm]

We travelled to Camp in the back of a Fruit & Veg lorry - "F Meyers & Co"! - which was just tremendously exciting. Today, some mamby-pamby wet would say it was against Health & Safety Regs for kids to travel on the back of an open lorry, but any kid would adore it.

I know a lot of people involved in the Warwickshire darts setup, the youth side comprises of 18's and under and as a county side (champions again BTW) they travel throughout the country.
Thing is these days the folks accompanying them have to be vetted by the police and social services i believe, which really endangered their season at one point.
So a proud father cannot jump in the team coach for his kids first county game because it is illegal!!!!!!!

[tikay]

We travelled to Camp in the back of a Fruit & Veg lorry - "F Meyers & Co"! - which was just tremendously exciting. Today, some mamby-pamby wet would say it was against Health & Safety Regs for kids to travel on the back of an open lorry, but any kid would adore it.

I know a lot of people involved in the Warwickshire darts setup, the youth side comprises of 18's and under and as a county side (champions again BTW) they travel throughout the country.
Thing is these days the folks accompanying them have to be vetted by the police and social services i believe, which really endangered their season at one point.
So a proud father cannot jump in the team coach for his kids first county game because it is illegal!!!!!!!

It's just sheer lunacy Ian, & it will come back & bite the wet idiots who dream these things up in the fullness of time.

[Karabiner]

When I was at boarding school(I too was a cub and then a scout), we used to climb all of the trees in the grounds most of which had names. Scores of young boys aged between seven and thirteen spent most of our break time in them, and some of them were pretty good sized trees too.

I climbed them all and my tree-climbing exploits are one of the few happy memories of an otherwise miserable part of my life.

Is tree climbing still allowed ?

[Laxie]

Tree climbing?!  The kids aren't even allowed to RUN in our school yard...never mind climb a tree.

[The_nun]

When we were small tree climbing was an everyday activity, especially during srumping season...until one of my sisters lost her footing and fell out of a tree onto barbed wire fencincing ..not a pretty site, she received a right causing no pampering.

[KingPoker]

i always preferred the cadets to the scouts.

But bob a job week cold never happen now because of risk of going to a home of a paedophile which is absurb as there were probably just as many of those vermin around 30/40 years ago as there is today but at least today something proactive is being done to hunt them down.

And when i have kids, there is no way i will be sueing the school or council if my kid falls out of a tree etc and breaks a bone. When i was in school i ran, chasing a girl of course, across the playground tripped and went head first into the wall separating the girls part of the yard from the boys part. I woke up in hospital and had a great day coz I got the day off school and when i went back the day after the headmaster said jokily "i hope your head didnt damage the wall" and i laughed but there was no talk even 14 years ago when that happened of me blaming the school for having an unprotected surface like that!
My God, lets hope this country doesnt turn into the USA!

[tikay]

Embarrassed as I am about it, the fact is, I get lots of invites & freebies. I always come clean on these matters, as I want my cupboard to remain skeleton free, as it's always been. One or two folks continually search for them, but they'd be better off saving their time.

Anyway, I got two yesterday, & the first is very nice, & I want to publically say "thank you", the second - of which more later - is a bit more awkward.

So, first up, you probably know that DTD have a "Hunt The Pros" Tourney every Monday, & Rob's Team have very kindly deposited a litttle sum in my DTD Account & invited me to play these every Monday. I've had the Invites for quite a while now, but only managed to play two so far.

Yesterday they invited me to play next Monday's renewal, & they have placed one of the Bounty's on me. Which is nice for you guys, as I suck on Crypto.......

I find no commercial discomfort with this "gift", apart from the general embarrassment that I get so lucky with such things. DTD & blonde have a Commercial Relationship, & he & I are long-standing, good, friends, way pre blonde-DTD. blonde run a Cardroom, so does DTD, but that's fine, we are both grown-ups, & it's well-known that I play on many Sites other than blonde, & have commercial & contractual ties with 5 or 6 Sites, & counting.

And what if I ever won anything in these DTD funded Tourneys I play? Easy, I'd give it straight to Rob's Charity. Rob's Charity is a REAL charity. Every single penny raised goes to the Charity, all expenses are absorbed by Rob or his Companies. (Same thing). It's not generally reaslised that some outfits that masquerade as a Charity are not Charities at all - they are businesses, they pay themselves salaries, expenses, buy expensive office kit, da de da de da. That's a business which donates a bit to Charity - a very different thing. And Rob has total, 100% transparency on the financial side of his Charity. As Johnny Cash said, you have to hide your lies, but the truth can run around naked.

I've had a lot of PM's which ask why I so rarely Post on the Rob Yong Diary thread, which is far & away the most popular thread ever on blonde. It's interpreted by some that I don't support Rob's venture wholly. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am 100% with him as to the goal he is aiming for. But that's not to say I agree with everything he says, especially as to the correct way forward. Luckily, as we are both Adults, having a differing view as to the best way forward is not a bad thing. And the thread is very passionate, very emotive, and it's not always wise to stand in the path of a storm. And his Posts are brutally honest, as are mine, witness this Post.

Rob's sponsorship of areas of blonde was seminal for us at the time, a life-saver. It was for 12 months, so that gave us stability when we most needed it. Was it commercialy justified from his aspect? Maybe, maybe not. It's marginal, but Rob just wanted to help blonde, & he put his money where his mouth was, he walked the walk as well as talking the talk.

I don't actually think, sadly, that DTD get the best out of blonde, as it happens. Members can't start threads on the DTD Board, but Rob, Rich, Nick & I discussed this at length, Rob wants the Board to be an information provider, not a Forum. His money, his right to choose. But it pains me so much to see the DTD Board so quiet, & I ache to rev it up, & get the thing buzzing. And questions get asked, but not answered for an age, which also troubles me. Rob is THE most customer-attentive guy I've ever met, (maybe me excepted....), but he is only human, & I guess it's small beer in the grand scheme of things. In sheer frustration, I actually answered a DTD question on their Forum myself this morning, which is bad form, & I regret now. But it had lain unanswered for nearly 4 weeks!

And there's the the matter of the relationship (?) between DTD & the Major Casino Groups. Boy oh boy, does THAT get emotive! But it's big business, & anyone who expects the Casino Groups to welcome a new competitor - and a fierce one too - with open arms, is living in cloud-cuckoo land. They are entitled to object, the Law allows them to, & they have their shareholders interest to optimise. And Rob has the same rights as them. Or will have, once he gets on the merry-go-round.

All this "tear up your Membership Cards" (of local Venues) stuff, as some have Posted, appals me. His case is based on proving demand (no choice, that's the way it falls), & here we have well-meaning but misguided (imo) blondes encouraging players to boycott the local Casinos. They should be suggesting the complete opposite! If all the local venues are heaving with punters, the DTD case is an open & shut, guaranteed to succeed, cannot possibly fail, no-brainer. He'd get the licence in a 30 second hearing. It's 100% true, trust me - it's THAT SIMPLE.

But the biggest & most astonishing anomoly is the fact that there are scores of unlicensed venues continuing to operate. I have no problem with them, or that. None at all.

But........This is the thing that sticks in my throat. Rob has spent God knows how many £hundred thousand to get his Licence, to be GC Compliant. And a committment to £x00,000 per annum to remain GC Compliant. All agreed. The Unlicensed Venues are in for free. How can that be right? The law is an ass, a donkey, and anything else you wish to call it.

And nobody has asked the obvious question. What will happen to the Unlicensed, unregulated, Venues come September? I don't wish them ill, I don't wish them closed down. I don't. This is an honest Diary, & that's that. But how come they are freerolling & Rob is in for a fortune - and they can operate & he can't? Something is seriously amiss here, & it's an injustice of huge proportions. On which, I imagine, we all agree!

Anyway, thanks for the DTD Tourney Invites Rob, & I'm 100% behind you. And on a different route, maybe, him by car, me by train perhaps. But I'll meet you at DTD when it opens, & the drinks are on me.

[RED-DOG]

Looking back over this diary, what I appreciate most is it's honesty, it's starkly descriptive prose, and the fact that you are not having sex on a regular basis.

[Dingdell]

Whats the more awkward invite all about? If it's that coffee at my house I'm devastated you're saying no....

[Robert HM]

Dear Reader, I don't think the above two posts are connected in any way.

[scottm]

Looking back over this diary, what I appreciate most is it's honesty, it's starkly descriptive prose, and the fact that you are not having sex on a regular basis.