"The Downswings of Property and Poker"

[Eso Kral]

ESCAPE TO THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION!!

During the month i knew i was not going to be able to pay the interest let alone any of the balance and had tried to spin up some money for the first 2 weeks of the month but to no avail.  To be honest i was absolutely bricking it as having spoken to other people about the lender i heard when people didnt pay he was a nasty character and i genuinely feared abouot having some bones broken, i seriously contemplated just running away and starting again and even took the time to buy a book on the french foreign legion as although i was currently out of shape i knew it wouldnt take long to get in shape to pass the physical and maybe a few years away would sort me out and save some money but i had one last option.

I turned up at Grosvenor Walsall for a mini festival and played the £200 event like a scared bunny it was my last money of the month and if i didnt come top 3 what i would be paid a week later would not be enough to pay the interest on the debt and when i busted i felt physically sick, so it was a choice of running or turning up on my dads doorstep for one last shot and if he said no i was going to disappear.

I knocked the door and as soon as my dad opened it, i know he knew why i would be there as it was a Sunday morning i had slept in my car and looked scruffy, unshaven and desperate.  "Hi Dad, thought i would pop in as was in a festival last night" was my opening gambit and we sat down to catch up as when i was gambling heavily i used to not ring him or ignore his phone calls so he knew pretty much that i was going to be sat here in trouble.

We chewed the cud for a while and after an hour i broke down and confessed that i was in trouble and feared for my health if he could not help me one last time, hoping that the thought of his son being hurt would tug the heart strings enough for him to help out. I was a pretty devious character in those days and although i knew this really hurt my dad and depsite the fact i knew his health was not amazing or his own financial circumstances all in needed was the knowledge i would get hold of the money.

"How much and to who do you owe?" he said to which i replied its a property investor and 12k now i only owed 8k plus the 1600 interest but being a complete idiot and not wanting to beat my problem a little surplus on top would give me a starting roll to try and spin up and he looked at me with a tear in his eye and said "I'm sorry son but i said to myself last time i wouldnt and im going to stick to my guns"...

[millidonk]

Oh shit, this is amazing stuff!

Don't know if its the way ya write or just because i feel like i can really relate, but this is fantastic reading!

I have never actually read a book from start to finish but stuff like this makes me want to nip to Waterstones and pick up a thriller.

This pisses all over other diaries imo.

[Eso Kral]

Despite everything i said Dad was not going to lend the money to me and i left the house and apologised for letting him down and told him that i would have no option but to disappear but i would try and contact him as and when i could.  I got in the car and drove off and was about to get on the M6 to head south when my phone rang  and it was Dad asking me to go back to his house.

Now i am not proud of many of the things i did in my past and hurting my Dad the way i did for many years still does not sit right with me and later in my story i will talk about him in more detail as he was a truly great man, however all the things that i did then make me the person i am today and i dont regret my past as for example if i was 6ft 2 i would have 99% sure been a professional footballer and therefore would have shared the experiences i have in my life and therefore would not have met Petra and had the chance to have Maxwell.

Back at the house the red book was out again and Dad had added up the figures and it came to a good 20k of money that i had received and my brother had not although this would be reduced to 12k as my brother was getting married and Dad was giving him 8k towards it so my figure would come down accordingly.  Dad was working as a chauffeur for a cosmetic surgery company ferrying around mainly women from around the country to have boob jobs (nice life) and back after the op but didnt earn lots of money and his savings were tied up so he said he would take a loan out on my behalf and i had to pay double for the first few months to be ahead of the loan incase i then had a mishap, which obviously i agreed to and he then said that he wanted to meet the investor to tell them that on no occasion was i to ever be leant to again.

I was never going to let this happen so told him i would contact the guy and come back to him but thought he would only want to deal with me, 2 days later at midnight my Dad met me in the early hours of the morning on his way to pick up a patient form Southampton and he handed me the money in an envelope and said that if this ever happened again he would only have one son left.  I went back to my flat in Hornchurch a relieved man and met up with the investor the next day to pay him off and then went out and got smashed feeling so lucky to not have to run away and cause more hurt...

[Karabiner]

Gripping stuff Rich.

I have  known a fair few people who have got themselves in deep doodoo with Far-Eastern moneylenders and it's not funny at all. At one point there were around half a dozen of them who used to hang around in Gala Nottm. waiting for folk to go busto on the tables. It was so blatantly open that I was always amazed the management stood for it.

[mondatoo]

Oh shit, this is amazing stuff!

Don't know if its the way ya write or just because i feel like i can really relate, but this is fantastic reading!

I have never actually read a book from start to finish but stuff like this makes me want to nip to Waterstones and pick up a thriller.

This pisses all over other diaries imo.

My diary is much better imo, just about to update it from yday KK<<<<<AA, AK<<<AA, AK<<<<KK, gripping stuff 

[EvilPie]

The honesty in this is truly amazing Rich. Thank you so much for sharing it.

[Bongo]

The honesty in this is truly amazing Rich. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Big +1 here

[bookiebasher]

Fascinating read Rich , keep it coming !

[Eso Kral]

2 WEEKS LATER

I had won a few quid here and there on sports, and a few colleagues had invited me for a night out at Harlow dogs which was local to them and we rocked up on a Weds night for a meal and couple of drinks. Having been to the track 2 of the boys wanted to buy a greyhound or two that we could run at the track and hopefully have a few touches on, so on Friday night we went back and had dinner with a trainer called Tommy Wade who said he had a couple of cheap dogs that were for sale and would be perfect and he also said that some of his owners were not really gamblers so was happy to tip us the wink when these dogs were trying and we parted with £1500 between the 3 of us for 2 dogs that had not run before at the track.

Mick had already been to his kennels so i felt at ease with this and as he left Tommy told us to back his dog in the first as it was expected to win. I stuck £200 on at 6/4 and half my dogs investment was paid back as it led round the first and won by 4 lengths, it later transpired that Tommy was reknowned for winning the first race and they were usually shorties in the betting.

As it turned out one of the dogs was rubbish and the other one had trialled better and was due for its first run on a saturday night in the second lowest grade but Tommy expected it to win, the unfortunate thing about Harlow dogs in those days was they knew which punters backed which trainers dogs and you had to work it like a military operation to get a decent amount of money on so with 4 bookies betting plus one without the fav we all waited for the show but had been told the tissue was 5's.

It opened up at 5's as per the tissue and Tommy had told us that it had had a live kill that morning and was then locked in a dark kennel so would be raring to go when the traps opened and all we needed to do was lead at the first bend. All four of us waited and then in a synchronised fashion stepped forward first of all putting £400 on at 5's and then a further £300 including £100 for Tommy at 3's before it got scrubbed due to the bookies themselves trying to lay with the others.

As the traps opened he flew out and it was all over at the first bend and i think Tommy had to explain on the improved time from the trials as it had won by to far to be normal improvement, but as a gambling kennel this was just a formality and we used some of the winnings to purchase another dog from a car park in Romford...

[Eso Kral]

Mick had bumped into a fella who was about to be sent down and owned a few dogs that ran at Romford and needed to sell them so we purchased our most expensive dog (not that much in dog terms) who was called Moat Buddy for around £1800 now Moat was a massive dog who needed to lead or he lost interest, i cant remember the exact weight but i think he was 32kilos and dwarfed most greyhounds and had won a weak A1 (top grade) race at Romford but was prob A2 class realistically.

You cant hide a dogs previous form but Buddy was useless at Harlow and for any that know the track its cambered on the bends and dogs that have never run there before tend to just run off at the bends so as Buddy was a bang leader we were pretty disappointed with his times.

From being top grade at Romford he opened up in A7 at Harlow and was 4/7 on his debut at those prices we never had a bean on and although he should have pissed it he ran off at the bend got knocked over and finished last, he didnt win a race till we switched him to another trainer who trained at Catford and despite being told he had slightly split his webbing we found out he was down to run and he won his last race at 10/1 for us before after one more run i think we retired him due to injury.

I became immersed in the dogs at Harlow and got the videos for all the meetings along with the advance cards to really study up as you could always find one or two that looked to be good things, but although i was winning at Harlow i was still losing elsewhere and it didnt take long before i was back on the phone to the money lender to bring me some ££££

Due to the fact i was a good payer and had a good job if i needed money it was nice to know that having made a call normally within 2 hours a car would turn up and i would just be handed some money and i never thought at that time about the paying back bit so i collected my 5k from the window of the car and said i would see him at the end of the month...

[Tonji]

The honesty in this is truly amazing Rich. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Tremendous 

[cambridgealex]

  gripping read rich!

[leethefish]

I need the day to go fast today can't wait to get home to read this .......

[leethefish]

Omg I am in the q at screwfix reading this it's amazing read ......balls my order just came thru

[leethefish]

It's ok there a que at burger van.....
Hello my name is lee and I'm addicted to this thread