Friday 31 December 2010

Minor Celeb Spot ( Midlands Area )

Guess who I came across in Birmingham earlier today? Yep, you cracked it – only the previously mentioned Central TV weathergirl Emma Jesson!

I nearly commented upon how I felt she and Ken Barlow made a lovely couple. But didn’t.

Little new to say on the Betfair front. On the basis that New Year’s Eve involves a trip down the M6 and M1, followed by a couple of hours stood in the cold in the hope of seeing the Thames-side fire works, then my current P&L will become December’s final figure. I can’t be bothered to count the total number of transactions, but the final profit comes in at £476.99. I’ll put together a post summarising ‘where I’m at’ betting-wise after the holiday, but the overall feeling is positive.

May I wish a happy new year to all, and good luck in 2011.

Tuesday 28 December 2010

Quiz Answers

Current king of the sports betting blogs, Cassini, is also smart enough to land the spoils from my quiz.

Q1. The Brown’s superb response was as follows :






















Q2. Bored of those multiple choice questions where one of the possible answers offered is patently rubbish? Well, this is the opposite. Yes, the answer is Ken Barlow. Or, more accurately, 78 year old actor William Roache. To paraphrase someone wittier than I – what attracts Emma to the millionaire Mr Roache?

Q3. The club founded in a district within the Isle of Dogs, East London, that subsequently moved south of the Thames to Bermondsey, was Millwall F.C.

Monday 27 December 2010

Bored?

For those struggling to fill their ‘twixtmas’ days whilst wading through a sea of turkey and chocolates, I offer you my ‘Nameless Bank Holiday’ 3 part quiz. Answers in my next post.

1. The following letter of complaint was sent to American Football giants the Cleveland Browns back in simpler times in 1974. Just guess how the Browns responded. ( Thanks to the Frank Turner twitter feed for spotting this ).























2. Here’s Central TV weathergirl Emma Jesson. I’ve been following her progress closely for ten years or so. Which of the following is she currently dating ?






























Jonathan Trott?











Marcus Bent?











Ken Barlow?


3. There is a metal plaque embedded in the pavement outside my new apartment block denoting the place where a football league club was founded in 1885 by workers from J.T. Morton, a food processing plant and cannery. They moved to their more famous (infamous?) home in 1910, and on to their current stadium in 1993. To get from their place of origin to the current home requires a trip one station along a tube line, and a short walk, or a slightly longer walk and a precarious swim for the more adventurous. Name the club.

Good Luck.

Tuesday 14 December 2010

Bye Bye Hotel Room

The Basildon Travelodge is history, and I now have what is known as a ‘London crashpad’. Whilst it would be nice to see myself as being the occupier of both a ‘London home’ and a ‘Country home’, finances ensure that I am much more aware of being the owner of two whacking financial commitments each month. Whilst the income from my current contract covers my costs, the next stage will hopefully be to sell up in Lichfield and make a permanent move to the South-East. I’ve no guarantee of ongoing work, but my feeling is that there are more long-term opportunities in the South than the Midlands. My big pain at the moment is that I’m committed to some Saturday work in the Midlands for the next few months, so I’m trecking up and down the motorway on Friday and Sunday evenings. Mrs B has coined a nice positive phrase for it – ‘investing in the future’ – better than my idea – ‘flogging my nuts off'.

The flat has been an internet-free zone so far, and as I’m only looking to stay in this particular location for a 6 month period, I’m not looking to have a fixed phone line. So I’ve obtained a Mobile Broadband dongle, with low expectations based on various web reviews. If it turns out to be hopeless, weekday internet use may be limited to the free WiFi at McDonalds and CafĂ© Brera.

In turn, my Betfair usage is at it’s lowest level since I opened an account. My actual December stats to date are as follows :

Markets entered : 52
P&L : +£202.56

Anyone reading the blog regularly will have worked out that this has therefore been a fairly decent spell, taking into account my relative inactivity. Certainly, I have been pretty relaxed and patient during my limited time in front of the Betfair screen, and that does seem to be my recipe for profit. None of my sessions have been particularly long, and history suggests that over a longer day I become frustrated and my judgement wains. So maybe this lack of Betfair time may have it’s benefits in terms of profitability.

One side effect of London living is the tendency to come across minor celebrities ( this NEVER happens in my home village near Lichfield ). December’s roll-call to date – James May, Rav Wilding and Big Brother’s Chantelle Houghton and Victor.

I’ll hopefully be back soon with more minor celeb spots and minor exchange winnings.