Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

Wow he has audacity saying that.

He's on a one man mission to destroy himself

Oh, he said a lot more!

It's standard. Run a poker Forum & you get them all the time - ask the Mods, we become figures of hate.

I got one last night - nice one - saying "x" is a grimmer, & has grimmed half of the poker circuit. The debate then becomes, do we ban on "hearsay", or do we pre-emptively Ban. Or do nothing. All three courses have their pros & cons. Not easy.

I think I'm moving towards (in general) "pre-emptively" Ban, but whatever the Mods eventually decide, it'll upset some. But we have no obligation to accept any Member, & don't need a reason to ban someone. Or do we?

Argue amongst yourselves, no comment from me!

Hey-ho.

[tikay]

Tuesday 10th February.

From Jury's to the Feltham office, to write my blogs. Found it hard going - sometimes the words don't flow easily, other times I can write all day.

It was "Xmas tikay Giveaway Night", & I was due down in Pulborough, in Sussex, for a sort of private game, with the Giveaway winner. (Loser?).

As I drove through the beautiful Syssex lanes, on my way, I was horrified to see the flooding - everything, for miles round, was flooded. And floodwater is  horrible, yukky, brown. Imagine that in your lounge.

It was in the papers, "Sussex flooded", but you sort of don't realise the enormity of it until you see it first hand.

It was bad, & it kinda depressed me. I always enjoy beautiful countryside, but this was awful. Nature - don't mess with her, she's so brutal, & now & then, she likes to remind us of her power, as well as her beauty.

[kinboshi]

You in Nottingham tonight Mr K?

[tikay]

I took some pictures at the "Giveaway" night, on my own camera, but I thought I'd google-image (there, a new verb for you) "tikay giveaway", as it's quicker, & easier.

This was the first picture that came up.

Trust me, please. Don't believe eveyything you see & read. This was NOT at the tikay Giveaway night.

Whad do you think it's about?

[tikay]

You in Nottingham tonight Mr K?

No, working tonight Dan, it's my PTP night.

Win the lot. You, not me, that is.

[AndrewT]

"If you tell one more train story I'm going to pull the trigger"

[cdw1111]

Pollack looks like a young Karabiner i reckon

Imagine being an old Karabiner!

A quick diversion, while we have Flushy's attention.

The crash of the BA 777 at Heathrow last year, due to icing in the fuel. The NTSA & AIB both issued reports on this yesterday, & Rolls Royce are urgently modifying all in-service engines.

Rolls say it will take a year to manufacture, test, & certify the defective part - a fuel heat exchanger I think. There have been TWO such incidents in the last 12 months. The aeroplanes will be allowed to continue to fly, in the interim.

The Times refers frequently to it being a well-known problem known as "rollback". What is this "rollback"?

Tikay i was on this a couple of days ago pm me your email and i'll send you some pics,i'am not sure i can put them in the public domain

[tikay]

Pollack looks like a young Karabiner i reckon

Imagine being an old Karabiner!

A quick diversion, while we have Flushy's attention.

The crash of the BA 777 at Heathrow last year, due to icing in the fuel. The NTSA & AIB both issued reports on this yesterday, & Rolls Royce are urgently modifying all in-service engines.

Rolls say it will take a year to manufacture, test, & certify the defective part - a fuel heat exchanger I think. There have been TWO such incidents in the last 12 months. The aeroplanes will be allowed to continue to fly, in the interim.

The Times refers frequently to it being a well-known problem known as "rollback". What is this "rollback"?

Tikay i was on this a couple of days ago pm me your email and i'll send you some pics,i'am not sure i can put them in the public domain

Thanks, will do, in 30 secs. I'm a bit obsessively fascinated with civil aeronautical stuff. I must come & see that A380 with you one day, too.

When I stay at Jury's Heathrow, I use a short section of the A30 to drive to Feltham, & it's plane-spotters heaven - hundreds of plane-spotters stand there all day, (almost opposite Hatton Cross Tube station) with their zoom lenses & kit. I stand with them sometimes, & feel a little silly, but the sound & sight of planes just a few hundred feet (?) above your head is one of the most exciting things I've ever seen or heard. The engine noise when landing is special, too, better than on take-off.I know, I'm a geek.

I think - I'm not sure - that Heathrow "reverse" the runways at 2pm every day, to alleviate noise disturbance to residents. Is this true? If so, it must be a neat bit of ATC juggling.

[rex008]

When the planes are landing east to west, they switch runways at 3pm (ie land on north, take-off from south, or the other way round). Means those directly under one or the other flightpath only get 1/2 a day of very low aircraft.

Doesn't happen when doing west to east - they always land on the north runway and take off from the south.

The actual direction depends on the prevailing winds - planes will always take off and land into the wind by preference. More lift at lower ground speed.

Just call me Mr Geeky .

[cdw1111]

Pollack looks like a young Karabiner i reckon

Imagine being an old Karabiner!

A quick diversion, while we have Flushy's attention.

The crash of the BA 777 at Heathrow last year, due to icing in the fuel. The NTSA & AIB both issued reports on this yesterday, & Rolls Royce are urgently modifying all in-service engines.

Rolls say it will take a year to manufacture, test, & certify the defective part - a fuel heat exchanger I think. There have been TWO such incidents in the last 12 months. The aeroplanes will be allowed to continue to fly, in the interim.

The Times refers frequently to it being a well-known problem known as "rollback". What is this "rollback"?

Tikay i was on this a couple of days ago pm me your email and i'll send you some pics,i'am not sure i can put them in the public domain

sent and will send you a few more pleasant ones

[tikay]

I eventually reached my Hotel, in Chichington, it was set in idyllic countryside, but that's the next Post. The most beautiful Hotel, though.

So, I arrive, 7pm on the dot, in sleepy Pulborough, for the "Giveaway" night, together with Tony, a photographer, that Sky sent down, & a local press bloke.

There were, I think, 7 or 8 guys there, & we had he most fun you could imagine.

The Winner works in the City, Fund Manager or somesuch, top bloke. He lives in a large, rambling, Bungalow, really lovely.

He had invited his buds along, & what a bunch they were. A spec builder, two bookies, "Foxy" (I think that's his name - well known on the South Coast poker circuit, & a mate of Flushy's), an estate agent, a "man of the night", & a Pro Cricketer. Top poker company!

One of the bookies used to own 2% of Sporting Index - that'd be worth a pretty penny now.

While playing, we had the TV on, as it was dog night - Flushy's dog was running that night at Wimbledon.

The SI man had backed trap numbers, at £50 a spot. You multiply the 1-2 trap numbers by each other in each race, so Trap 2 from Trap 6 = 12. The "line" was 84, & he'd gone low. After x races, the Line had dropped to about 60 - so he could take a profit there & then, of 24 spots at £50. Very nice.

"Nah, I like a gamble" he said. And we watched in horror, as the Results unfolded - 6-4, 6-5, 5-4, groan. He done a few bob in the end - or maybe came out even - but it reminded me of my spread betting days. Huge pleasure & huge pain. I remember Monday's best - settling day. I dread to think how much I dropped down the years. Poker solved all that for me, & I've never bet on a dog or horse since. Never will, either. Poker cures & satisfies all my gambling instincts & desires, &, one way & another, I've done OK, despite the fact that I play a liittle unconventionally by current standards. I don't often win, but I rarely lose a L-L....

So, we played some poker, & decided on a £40 Freezeout, with unlimited rebuys. Yup, we made it up as we went along!

I dropped 3 rebuys early, groan, then inflicted a horror suckout on the Host. I had K-J on a K-9-3 flop, he had K-9, the money went in, then the J rivered. How embarrassing. I ended up Bubbling, there's a thing.

Great night, really enjoyed it, & we finished at about Midnight. The photographer took hundreds of pics, which I can't find now (they are on the Sky Poker site somewhere, but I can't locate them), & I took a bunch of pics, too, & I can't find them, either. I need to get my pictures organised better, I think. I have thousands.

The Cricketer was a great guy. He is still a semi-pro cricketer, I think, & he's building a house somewhere. Big, tall, athletic looking guy, I liked him a lot. He played for Sussex, the same time as Ed, & had us in stitches with his "Ed" cricket stories. Not for publication, I'm afraid. Nothing sinister, but just "blokes"  & laddish stuff.

The Host, Paul, made a lovely buffet, & all in all, it was a brill evening.

I hope to do more of these - right now, they are Annual, but I enjoy them, I'm paid to do this sort of thing, & I'd like to do more. It's hard to quantify their value to the Cardroom though, other than general profile-raising. But the "Giveaway" Tourney on Sky Poker was an instant sell-out - sold out 30 mins before the "off" - the power of telly, eh? On the night of the TV Tourney, I was bricking it - suppose only 23 runners registered? Phew, I got away with it, full house, happy days. I think a night with (almost) anyone would sell-out on that Channel, actually.

I dunno, but if they want me to do more, I'll be there in a flash, meeting peeps you have not met before, via poker, is a great thing. In fact, it's almost the best thing poker has done for me - meeting so many diverse folks. Heroes & villains alike.

The PR peeps ring me the next day. I'm not a big fan of PR agencies. They wanted to do some puff, for the media, & said "so, how often do you have the Christmas tikay Giveaway?". "Annually" I replied, deadpan. But they wrote a very nice piece, & it got circulated everywhere, & I guess it's on the Sky site somewhere.

I then drove back to the Hotel, but it was such a lovely night - the moon was bright, the frost in the air - that I drove around the wibbly-wobbly lanes for an hour or more, window down, system up, singing, as happy as larry.

It was 0130 when I finally got back to the Hotel. Another day done, more memories, more fun. God bless poker.

[tikay]

My Hotel, in Chichington. When you stay a lot in "regular" Hotels - Days Inn, Jury's, Marriotts, etc - , a place like this is worth a proper look. It was just stunning.

Gravelly drive, which crunched as you drove along, rickety front foor with an old-fashioned latch, low celings, and the Manager was the owner, the cook, the barman, & the dishwasher. He was a splendid old buff, too, very old school. Plenty of money too, I would think.

I researched the history of the Hotel - wow, what a tale. It was part of a 400 acre estate, which was sold for £4,060 in 1897. 400 acres for £4k! Bits & pieces were sold off down the years, all for ever-bigger sums. The owners included - get these names - Rt Honourable Henry Baron Leconfield, the Honourable Charles Henry Wyndham, Sir Robert Nigel Fitzhardinge Kingscote, the Rt Honourable Arthur Philip Earl Stanhope, Ross Fronmette Ospovat Wells (!), and now, anti-climatically, Richard Begley.

By the bye, the difference between "Rt Honourable" & "Honourable" is a Parliamentary thing, I think. Different prefixes for different seniority, I believe. I know you must never confuse "Honourable" & "Rt Honourable".

Here's the hotel.

[tikay]

I was so taken with that name - Ross Fronmette Ospovat Wells - that I googled it, but it came up a blank. Anyone know anything about him - or her?

Even money AndrewT.

[tikay]

Upon arrival at the Hotel, which I'd booked Online, Mr Begley said "do you want upgrading Mr Kendall?".

No thanks.

"It's a lovely room, 4 poster bed, our very best".

No thnk, it's just me, & I'll just be arriving, sleeping, & leaving.

"It's only £4".

4 quid!

OK, I'll pay the extra.

And it as just beautiful. The room was small, & cluttered, with bespoke antique furniture, which got in the way, & the Wireless Internet was pants.

But......

It was a sort of outhouse, in the grounds, a sort of chalet really.

I awoke early on the Wednesday, a crisp & frosty morning, & went walking. How about this? Days Inn, eat your heart out.

I must return, in the spring, because the birdsong, & setting, was just wonderful.

I wanted to stay there for ever, & it was heartlifting to see such beauty. But I has a meeting with Joe Beevers, at 2pm, so that was that, I headed north, picked up the M23, M25, & drove back to civilisation. Sometimes I wish could live my whole life & never visit London again. But the memory of that place cheered me up so much, & still does, even now. How lovely it would be to do an Agatha Christie & run away to a mysterious hotel, never again to be found.

Finally, for the grammatical pedants. Why can we write "a mysterious hotel", but "a hotel" has to be "an hotel"?

[tikay]

When the planes are landing east to west, they switch runways at 3pm (ie land on north, take-off from south, or the other way round). Means those directly under one or the other flightpath only get 1/2 a day of very low aircraft.

Doesn't happen when doing west to east - they always land on the north runway and take off from the south.

The actual direction depends on the prevailing winds - planes will always take off and land into the wind by preference. More lift at lower ground speed.

Just call me Mr Geeky .

That explains a lot, thanks. On the M4, I see both incomning & departing. On the A30, I just see incoming.

I gather ALL UK Airports have east to west/west to east Runways, never north to south, because of the prevailing winds. Flushy told me that, so it must be true. And he must be a geek, too. Wiiiiiiiii!