Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[celtic]

Haha, thank you Mr Tom.

I'm glad I can make you feel better in some way

[RED-DOG]

Just to digress for a moment, I was surprised to get this email from Joe Beevers. I've always admired him immensely but I didn't think he knew I existed.



Hey RED-DOG,

I’ve been watching some videos recently that I want to to tell you about. I would also like to introduce you to a very good friend of mine.

The videos contain a REALLY shocking discovery and they have taught me things about my game that I never truly understood before.

It’s different to anything else I’ve ever seen on poker. I think it could really help you out as well.

It’s from my good friend Nick Wealthall (he hosts the UK poker tour).

I’ve never heard anyone explain why poker is so tough to play and why we can all struggle with it like this before.

The video also has some great tips you can use to improve your poker instantly.

It’s free for you to watch. To get it, just click the link below, watch a short vid from Nick then enter your email. You’ll be able to watch the training instantly.

Click To Get The Free Training Vid Now

You’re going to love it – can’t wait for Nick’s next one.

Talk soon
Joe Beevers
The Hendon Mob

P.S. If you’ve seen him on Channel 4 with Liv Boeree and you’re expecting her on the video you’re going to be disappointed (Nick said something about a restraining order when I asked). But if you want to get better at poker you need to watch this right now. Click the link below and sign up:

[millidonk]

Weird, he said the same thing to me. Nice of him to share the knowledge.

[RED-DOG]

So, after getting over the shock of being made redundant from the only job I've ever had, I decided I would go back to a job I did many years ago. Buying and selling.

My. How things have changed. It's really difficult now. For a start you used to be able to tempt people with a bit of ready money. Wave a few quid at them, 'Put this is your sky rocket, I don't need a reciept, nudge nudge..." Well those days are gone. Now it's all bills of sale and bankers drafts.

Still, No matter. I'm a honest man trying to earn a honest crust, all I have to do is buy below market price and sell above and I'll be fine. That's where my edge is.

Let me give you an example. In the good old days I would scout around until I found someone with something to sell, (or at least someone who could be persuaded to sell) and then I would call on my not inconsiderable experience to put a value on said goods. If this value was more than the seller was willing to accept I was on to a winner.

It went something like this.

Me: Hello Farmer Brown.
FB: Get orf my laand.
Me: Of course, but before I go, would you be interested in selling that old Lister donkey engine?
FB: Ow much would e pay for et?
Me: (Thinks... I saw one make £150 at Roger Geesons export yard last week) How much do you want?
FB: Her'd 'ave t' be £100.
Me: Give me a tenner back for luck and I'll take it.

Job done, everyone happy.


These days it goes more like this...


Me: Hello Farmer Brown.
FB: Get orf my laand.
Me: Of course, but before I go, would you be interested in selling that old Lister donkey engine?
FB: 'ang on, I'll just google t' price on me iPhone......

Everyone knows everything these days,

Bloody Larry Roberts.

[tikay]

Yay, the man is BACK.

[Woodsey]

Weird, he said the same thing to me. Nice of him to share the knowledge.

+1 lol

[RED-DOG]

Faint heart never won fair lady, as the saying goes I had a simple choice, take a vow of poverty or buy something to sell.

I bought this.

Click to see full-size image.

It was in need of a few repairs but nothing I couldn't do myself, and that's where my chance to make a buck comes in - I can add value to it.


That one is the HyLo version, where the top folds down to allow access to car parks with barriers. (See I'm learning already)


Soon after, I bought another. This one is the high top model. Both need a little TLC but all the important stuff is good.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

GL Me....

[smashedagain]

Weird, he said the same thing to me. Nice of him to share the knowledge.

+1 lol

Only played with him twice and he was terrible. After I watched the video I had to Hendonmob him to see how much he had improved. I was really suprised

[Woodsey]

LOL those cars wouldn't be bad for poker players on tour 

[RED-DOG]

That was the week before last.

Monday this week I spent most of the morning sourcing two reasonably priced front tyres and having them fitted to Sadie's car.

Oh I forgot to say, last week I had a new clutch fitted in Sadie's car. For a while, we thought it had a dual mass flywheel. For the uninitiated, a dual mass flywheel is an expensive item that regularly goes wrong. They decided to use it to replace a proper flywheel that is cheap and never goes wrong.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/caradvice/honestjohn/6417776/Dual-mass-flywheel-appeal.html


Anyway, I digress. Again.

At around mid day I took Sadie's now well attired car for a while-you-wait MOT.

I suspected it would fail on track-rod ends and I wasn't disappointed. As a matter fact it only failed on one track-rod end so I was better than not disappointed.

The blokes in the garage offered to fit a new one for £45. I could have done it myself for about £20 but then I would have had to pay to have it tracked up so I just told them to go ahead.

It also failed the emissions test but a quids worth of petrol in the diesel tank soon cured it. (Don't tell anyone I told you that).


BTW- I swear the blokes in the garage look and sound exactly like these two.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4AvLnt3P6Q

[RED-DOG]

On Tuesday I went to see Andrew Stunell MP at Portcullis House in London.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Stunell


I'm not salaried to do this stuff any more, but it's really important. Plus they offered to pay me £50 and refund my expenses so I how could I refuse?

I went down on the train. £53 if I travel off-peak. Fantastic value really. I was whisked to St P in a fraction over an hour. The downside was I wasn't allowed to catch the return train til after 19:00, which means I have to wait until 21:15 for my connection to Hinckley and I arrive home at 22:10.

I bet Andrew was already in bed with his cocoa by then.



I had a bit of a scare at Portcullis house.

Security is really tight there, but after being issued with photo id, handing my Swiss Army knife to the guard in exchange for a receipt and passing through the metal detector I was allowed in. I was then escorted (Everyone is escorted) to the upper chambers to see the Minister.

Once upstairs, I was left to wander the corridors unattended (Save for a plain clothes security man on every corner). The walls are covered in political portraits and paintings, some modern, some hundreds of years old. I thought they were fantastic.

When it was time to leave, I went downstairs and saw that the personnel on the door had changed.  I presented my pocket knife receipt to the new officer on duty and he went off to a locked cupboard. Minutes later he returned and handed me a bread knife, complete with crumbs.

I tried to tell him that it wasn't mine, he tried to insist that it was. I must have waved it around a bit and raised my voice a tad. The next thing I knew, the biggest policeman in the world was flinging himself between us, his machine gun making that 'Lock and Load' sound as he did so.

We got it sorted in the end, and my pocket knife was returned. I never did find out where the bread knife came from, and to be honest I didn't really care. I was too busy trying to find a public toilet so that I could check weather or not I had actually shit myself. 

Click to see full-size image.

 

 

[Claw75]

world record attempt to gather most people with same first name (in this case 'Tom') in the same place Sunday after next

http://www.tomstrust.org.uk/docs/latest_news/EFFkFVpEZutawWRFfg.shtml

[RED-DOG]

world record attempt to gather most people with same first name (in this case 'Tom') in the same place Sunday after next

http://www.tomstrust.org.uk/docs/latest_news/EFFkFVpEZutawWRFfg.shtml

Could be fun....

[RED-DOG]

On Wednesday I went to the hospital with my arse.  (Insert joke here ______ )

The problem is not with my arse per-se, it's the part of my anatomy that sits behind the opening to my hip pocket, but I don't know what to call it.

Anyway. It's been hurting for almost three years now. not all the time, only when I sit of something soft enough to allow me to sink in and put pressure on that part.

The biggest problems are the settee, sitting up in bed, the cinema, and driving, but one way and another, I've managed to find work-arounds.

I've had all sorts of tests, X ray, ultra-sound, MRI scan etc. I've had pain killers, Cortisone injections, physiotherapy and stuff, all to no avail.

Last week, after waiting months, I finally got to see a pain management specialist.

What a complete charlatan. He was the surely the most incompetent medical practitioner I have ever seen.  

I think he was a Sikh, (or at any rate he wore a turban) I mention this not because his ethnicity has any bearing, only because it allows me to describe him more accurately.

His turban seemed to be of the extra large variety and his smile was incredibly white.

It was for all the world like Peter Sellers had blacked up and was pretending to be a Sikh doctor.


"Hello Mr McCready, please take a seat. Now, you have a problem with your right leg?"

"No. I have a problem with my left hip"

He gave me a winning smile.

"That is correct"

"Does it hurt when you touch your toes?"

"No"

"Touch your toes please"

I did as I was told.

"Did that hurt?"

"No"

"That is correct"

I told him that only sitting on a soft surface for several minutes caused it to hurt, but he insisted on trying to guess something else that hurt it.

"Does it hurt when you lift your leg?"

"No, it only hurts when I sit on something soft"

"That is correct. Does it hurt when you run?"

"No, it only hurts when I sit on something soft"

"That is correct. Does it hurt when you bend sideways?


After about 200 guesses he changed tack.

"Does it hurt when I press here?"

"No, it only hurts when I sit on something soft"

"That is correct. Does it hurt when I press here?"

Eventually he opened a medical book and put it down on the carpet in front of me.

"Stand with one foot on that and the other on the floor"

I did as I was told.

"How does that feel"

"Lop sided Doctor"

"Please step off and step on again"

How does it feel now?"

"Still lop sided Doctor"

"Good. You have one leg shorter than the other"

"Pardon?"

"Have you tried pain killers?"

"Yes. They don't work"

"Good. Keep taking the pain killers"

"Do you drink alcohol?"

"No"

"Good. Drink a large glass of wine every evening"

"What about the pain Doctor, will it ever go away?"

"No. It will never go away"

"So you can't help me?"

"That is correct"

"Goodbye Doctor"

"Goodbye Mr McCready. Make an appointment to see me again in 6 months"



      

  

[Tonji]

Good luck in getting back into the old business.

Like you say, times is tough staying ahead of Joe Public.

sorry but I did lol @ your experience at the hands of the NHS. I guess it's not surprising you can find incompetence & expertise in equal measure in such a large organisation.