The *official* "whatever happened to?" thread

[RED-DOG]

What fabulous updates.

I feel quite emotional.

[Karabiner]

Archer?

How nice, I thought, you are missing me. Then I checked the date

17/18 Lost 3-1
17/18 Lost 3-0
18/19 Lost 2-0
18/19 Lost 3-1
19/20 Lost 3-0
19/20 Lost 3-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
21/22 Lost 5-1
21/22 Lost 2-1
22/23 Lost 3-1
22/23 Lost 4-1

8th October 2023
23/24 Won1-0
Ralph: "Where's Archer?"
 
  

Touché Archer mon brave.

Well I have missed your insightful contributions on the footie boards, not to mention your rapier wit which I see is as sharp as ever.

Any derby predictions?

[tikay]

What sort of train Claire? Underground, Overground, big ones, little ones?

PS - lovely photos, you are both ageing well. Think the last time I saw Dan was in the UK Passport Office somewhere in London.  

Big trains for Chiltern Railways

Thank you - I think Dan's aging better than me to be fair - he'll be 50 in a couple of months. I still have a couple of years to go

How are things with you? Are you married yet?

Really enjoyed your update Claire, so glad everything has worked out so well.

Chiltern Railways huh? Best named train franchise in the UK, & uses London's cutest termini, Marylebone. I've used it a few times to go to Wembley Stadium. One of the better Wiki pages I've perused lately too;


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiltern_Railways

Tell Dan he's a lucky bugger. I've ticked most of my (realistic) boxes in my life, but driving a train was the big one I missed out on. To this day, when I get a train, I still look at the driver with envy.



Do keep in touch please, & GL with the assorted quiz shows.

Oh, & I hope Vegas goes well. Hope you won't be there during the F1 GP though, it will be such a pain to get around what with all the road closures.

Married, me? Nah. But life has never been better, literally, I'm in the happiest place I've ever been, for sure. Everything just fell into place somehow. I plan to try & do a Diary update shortly, before Vinni gets on my case again.




  

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Well I finally got married to Mrs Mantis. We had been officially engaged for just over 30 years. You can't rush these big decisions. We arranged the wedding for Verona and whilst this sounds somewhat romantic there's a fair few bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Naturally, I was left to deal with all the headaches because Mrs Mantis had more complex issues to attend to, such a choosing a dress and who the bridesmaids were going to be. We were set to pull the trigger in 2020 but then goddam COVID struck so it was all postponed, the following year it was postponed again.

Finally I made it to the altar last year. I was standing there at 6pm sharp feeling quite proud of myself. All the paperwork was complete and in order, I had arranged friends and family from all around the world to converge in Verona, I had my interpreter Giuseppe by my side, my little nephew Jack had the ring, photographer, honeymoon in Lake Como, everything paid for. I allowed myself to exhale and relax. However, it gets to 6:15pm and there's still no bride. I phoned the Mrs and politely enquired as to where the fuck she was?? Apparently she hadn't arranged a taxi and was struggling to get one. Marv! After Giuseppe explained that if she didn't arrive in 15mins the wedding was off I simply screamed RUNNNNNN down the phone. We have an amazing video of her and bridesmaids running through the streets of Verona to car horns and applause. She dipped through the door like Colin Jackson finishing a 110m hurdles at 6:29pm.

Workwise I left the world of TopGolf and Brad behind to join Pine Ridge Golf Club as General Manager and then managed Camberley Heath Golf Club. However, I do believe COVID impacted our psychology hugely and the fact that I dearly missed Birmingham is evidence of this. So I simply quit Surrey after 8 successful years and returned to the exotic delights of Brum. Felt great to be back home and landed a sweet job managing a lovely golf club 10mins from my door.  

Haven't played poker in about 2 years. In all honesty my natural habitat was the casino full of characters and those days are largely gone. However, I did flip open my brand new laptop and entered a Bigger $22 with 1,550 entrants to see if I still had it. I came in exactly 1st place and just dominated. Brought back all those great feelings and fist-pump memories. I was going to drop the mike there and then and wish I had. Next day I entered another and suffered such a horrendous bad beat it somehow caused my fist to smash my laptop to bits. Haven't played since then and frankly that strange emotional outburst means it's probably for the best.

Wish everybody on Blonde well.

What an update that is, thanks Mr Mantis, & every sympathy to poor Mrs Mantis.

Probably a good move to quit Top Golf, you were never going to get the better of Brad.

What is the fascination with golf? Do you play much? I've taken up golf again - or tried to. Not going well tbh but I keep bashing away. I love it to bits but am horrendously bad.  

Deffo wise to quit poker if you have started smashing up lappies. You were always shite anyway.

You may remember that when we (Sky) go to Vegas we have a night at Top Golf every year. Well we've binned them now & do the darts equivalent, the cleverly named "Flight Club". They have places all over the USA & quite a few in the UK now, about 12 I believe.


https://flightclubdarts.com/

It's the same format as Top Golf really - electronic screens, replays, "fun" games etc - with a buffet & copious amounts of alcohol. Not my scene really but the lads had a great night this year.

Seriously man, don't be a stranger, many of us used to love your rambly posts. Nobody agreed with them but always an amusing read.

PS - congrats to both you & Mrs Mantis.

Click to see full-size image.

[celtic]

❤️ Mantis.

Congrats x

[MANTIS01]

Well I finally got married to Mrs Mantis. We had been officially engaged for just over 30 years. You can't rush these big decisions. We arranged the wedding for Verona and whilst this sounds somewhat romantic there's a fair few bureaucratic hoops to jump through. Naturally, I was left to deal with all the headaches because Mrs Mantis had more complex issues to attend to, such a choosing a dress and who the bridesmaids were going to be. We were set to pull the trigger in 2020 but then goddam COVID struck so it was all postponed, the following year it was postponed again.

Finally I made it to the altar last year. I was standing there at 6pm sharp feeling quite proud of myself. All the paperwork was complete and in order, I had arranged friends and family from all around the world to converge in Verona, I had my interpreter Giuseppe by my side, my little nephew Jack had the ring, photographer, honeymoon in Lake Como, everything paid for. I allowed myself to exhale and relax. However, it gets to 6:15pm and there's still no bride. I phoned the Mrs and politely enquired as to where the fuck she was?? Apparently she hadn't arranged a taxi and was struggling to get one. Marv! After Giuseppe explained that if she didn't arrive in 15mins the wedding was off I simply screamed RUNNNNNN down the phone. We have an amazing video of her and bridesmaids running through the streets of Verona to car horns and applause. She dipped through the door like Colin Jackson finishing a 110m hurdles at 6:29pm.

Workwise I left the world of TopGolf and Brad behind to join Pine Ridge Golf Club as General Manager and then managed Camberley Heath Golf Club. However, I do believe COVID impacted our psychology hugely and the fact that I dearly missed Birmingham is evidence of this. So I simply quit Surrey after 8 successful years and returned to the exotic delights of Brum. Felt great to be back home and landed a sweet job managing a lovely golf club 10mins from my door.  

Haven't played poker in about 2 years. In all honesty my natural habitat was the casino full of characters and those days are largely gone. However, I did flip open my brand new laptop and entered a Bigger $22 with 1,550 entrants to see if I still had it. I came in exactly 1st place and just dominated. Brought back all those great feelings and fist-pump memories. I was going to drop the mike there and then and wish I had. Next day I entered another and suffered such a horrendous bad beat it somehow caused my fist to smash my laptop to bits. Haven't played since then and frankly that strange emotional outburst means it's probably for the best.

Wish everybody on Blonde well.

What an update that is, thanks Mr Mantis, & every sympathy to poor Mrs Mantis.

Probably a good move to quit Top Golf, you were never going to get the better of Brad.

What is the fascination with golf? Do you play much? I've taken up golf again - or tried to. Not going well tbh but I keep bashing away. I love it to bits but am horrendously bad.  

Deffo wise to quit poker if you have started smashing up lappies. You were always shite anyway.

You may remember that when we (Sky) go to Vegas we have a night at Top Golf every year. Well we've binned them now & do the darts equivalent, the cleverly named "Flight Club". They have places all over the USA & quite a few in the UK now, about 12 I believe.


https://flightclubdarts.com/

It's the same format as Top Golf really - electronic screens, replays, "fun" games etc - with a buffet & copious amounts of alcohol. Not my scene really but the lads had a great night this year.

Seriously man, don't be a stranger, many of us used to love your rambly posts. Nobody agreed with them but always an amusing read.

PS - congrats to both you & Mrs Mantis.

Click to see full-size image.

The guys from Topgolf have set up a football equivalent in the UK https://www.toca.social/ and there's a basketball version https://www.jumpshot.live/ etc etc

Really, it's all trading on the magic formula, which is FUN. The huge volume of traffic at Topgolf shows how many people want to hit golf balls. So why do private member golf clubs make the game so inaccessible and strangle all the fun out of it? The consequence of prehistoric traditions are an aging membership population and impending financial disaster for many clubs. Add to this the convoluted golf club governance structure with temporary vocational directors and meddling committees, who all generally lack commercial acumen and engaging leadership. It creates great opportunity for skilled managers who can drive profitability by running golf clubs like the businesses that they are. Creating environments that deliver high standards but are also fun places to be. If you can successfully do that people will think you're Alan fucking Sugar.

When you have delivered a structure and team that succeeds, the manager of a private member golf club gets paid very handsomely to mince about drinking lattes with members and playing the odd round of golf. As jobs go, that is ok.

[tonytats]

I smashed 5 laptops in 9 days some time ago and have never played online since 😂

[bagel]

I smashed 5 laptops in 9 days some time ago and have never played online since 😂

reminds of my boss at post office in 1997. total berk. came into work one day with a clear bootprint across his forehead.

turned out he had been to court and sentenced to an anger management course. only 2 people turned up and they ended up having a fight.

[nirvana]

I smashed 5 laptops in 9 days some time ago and have never played online since 😂

reminds of my boss at post office in 1997. total berk. came into work one day with a clear bootprint across his forehead.

turned out he had been to court and sentenced to an anger management course. only 2 people turned up and they ended up having a fight.

Nice to hear the various updates but needed to say this made me laugh for quite a while

[Archer]

Archer?

How nice, I thought, you are missing me. Then I checked the date

17/18 Lost 3-1
17/18 Lost 3-0
18/19 Lost 2-0
18/19 Lost 3-1
19/20 Lost 3-0
19/20 Lost 3-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
21/22 Lost 5-1
21/22 Lost 2-1
22/23 Lost 3-1
22/23 Lost 4-1

8th October 2023
23/24 Won1-0
Ralph: "Where's Archer?"
 
  

Touché Archer mon brave.

Well I have missed your insightful contributions on the footie boards, not to mention your rapier wit which I see is as sharp as ever.

Any derby predictions?

Cheers sir.

I had no  money on the derby  but City priced at about 60% probability to win before the game. With hindsight that seems like a steal.
Great that United have turned into a comedy club again  at the moment and it looks like it will continue for some time yet. Give it to Giggsy I say...

Top of the Premier League looks like fun again
  

[Archer]

Archer?

and hhyftrftdrdrfrtdrdt

Evening sir.

I see him posting (at least I think it is him) every now and again on a City forum but mainly in the travel/holdiays thread. If it is him he is in zanzibar at the moment.

[ash190]

Haha, that's some next-level tech trouble.

[tikay]

Archer?

and hhyftrftdrdrfrtdrdt

Evening sir.

I see him posting (at least I think it is him) every now and again on a City forum but mainly in the travel/holdiays thread. If it is him he is in zanzibar at the moment.

He posted on the Sky Poker Forum a few days ago.

[Pokerpops]

Archer?

How nice, I thought, you are missing me. Then I checked the date

17/18 Lost 3-1
17/18 Lost 3-0
18/19 Lost 2-0
18/19 Lost 3-1
19/20 Lost 3-0
19/20 Lost 3-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
20/21 Lost 1-0
21/22 Lost 5-1
21/22 Lost 2-1
22/23 Lost 3-1
22/23 Lost 4-1

8th October 2023
23/24 Won1-0
Ralph: "Where's Archer?"
 
  

Touché Archer mon brave.

Well I have missed your insightful contributions on the footie boards, not to mention your rapier wit which I see is as sharp as ever.

Any derby predictions?

Cheers sir.

I had no  money on the derby  but City priced at about 60% probability to win before the game. With hindsight that seems like a steal.
Great that United have turned into a comedy club again  at the moment and it looks like it will continue for some time yet. Give it to Giggsy I say...

Top of the Premier League looks like fun again
  

Taking pleasure from the win on Sunday is like celebrating a win against your 6yr old nephew when you beat him at chess.
We are poor on so many metrics right now. Not least the one for getting players fit and keeping them that way.
I’m in no way arrogant enough to think I have answers to the situation. Maybe we should just dump the superstars and see what we can win with kids.

[Doobs]

possibly not the right thread ,but am sure that some of you will be pleased to hear that the countdown champion, stato_1, who still posts on here a bit, shipped the sunday million for 100k+.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/10/andrew-hulme-big-pokerstars-bounty-builder-series-win-44759.htm

Need to catch up on all the updates.  Hate the way they've ruined the Sunday Million, but would be so chuffed if I ever won that.  Congrats Stato.