It is such a joy being a Villa fan at the moment. It really reminds me of the Big Fat Ron era, exciting going forward and defensively sound. For the first time in a long while I actually am starting to believe we will win games before they even kick off. Can only be a matter of time before Southgate starts adding a few more to the England squad. Wonder when was the last time the England back four were the same as a club's back four. Can't see many reasons why Targett (most improved player over last 12 months), Mings, Konsa and Cash (possibly bargain of the last transfer window) can't be the England back four. Watkins up top is such a team player and offers soooo much more than many strikers. Barkley slowly getting back to his best. Take note Mr Southgate. Where will we finish this season? Carry on as we are and top 6 is definitely in grasp and Top 4, who knows in this topsy, turvey season. Small shout out to Connor Hourihane who has joined The Swans on loan until the end of the season. Says a lot about the man that he would rather go out and play football than sit on the Villa bench. One of the true professional bunch and will do a really great job for Swansea, good luck Sir. No more news on house and should hopefully get new car delivered later this week. On the poker front it has been win a bit, lose a bit and tonight I will be trying to qualify for the £6k BH and Sunday Major.
Bankroll £688.
Not many. Probably 3 LBs, 8 RBs and 10 CBs Lots of fuss about Grealish/Barkley-McGinn is seriously under-rated
It is such a joy being a Villa fan at the moment. It really reminds me of the Big Fat Ron era, exciting going forward and defensively sound. For the first time in a long while I actually am starting to believe we will win games before they even kick off. Can only be a matter of time before Southgate starts adding a few more to the England squad. Wonder when was the last time the England back four were the same as a club's back four. Can't see many reasons why Targett (most improved player over last 12 months), Mings, Konsa and Cash (possibly bargain of the last transfer window) can't be the England back four. Watkins up top is such a team player and offers soooo much more than many strikers. Barkley slowly getting back to his best. Take note Mr Southgate. Where will we finish this season? Carry on as we are and top 6 is definitely in grasp and Top 4, who knows in this topsy, turvey season. Small shout out to Connor Hourihane who has joined The Swans on loan until the end of the season. Says a lot about the man that he would rather go out and play football than sit on the Villa bench. One of the true professional bunch and will do a really great job for Swansea, good luck Sir. No more news on house and should hopefully get new car delivered later this week. On the poker front it has been win a bit, lose a bit and tonight I will be trying to qualify for the £6k BH and Sunday Major.
Bankroll £688.
Not many. Probably 3 LBs, 8 RBs and 10 CBs Lots of fuss about Grealish/Barkley-McGinn is seriously under-rated
Please feel free to name them. Agree about McGinn, does so much work with Luiz that give Grealish and Barkley the time and space to do their thing.
Quite a bit to catch up on starting with the poker. I have spent a bit of time on the streets at Party playing some of their MTT's and can report a profit of a couple of hundred quid. What it has meant is that I am now in profit for the year 2021 by the bankroll I have on here -£60, so basically +£550. Headed back to the 20nl tables on Sky last night and opted in to the Championship promo. The big difference now is that I have connected the laptop to a monitor and now play sat at a table rather than in an armchair perusing Twitch whilst playing. This has definitely improved the concentration levels and gives me hope that I can start to consistently win on the cash tables. Villa are very up and down at the moment but are still heading in the right direction and it is nice to be looking up rather than looking down at this time of the season. Fear for Newcastle but not surprised that Bruce is again showing he is out of his depth in the Premier League. Should of been skiing last week but spent it instead tidying (3 full trips to the tip), packing and removing light fittings. We are getting pretty close to exchanging and getting a completion date. Pretty confident we will be done before end of March and hence be stamp duty free. New BMW is a joy to drive and makes me wonder why I would ever choose a manual gearbox again. Been on a bit of a weight loss program, mainly eating healthy (1500 calories max a day) and doing 15km rides on my exercise bike. I have managed to now lose 12lbs and definitely feel more comfortable for it. I ride my bike in front of the TV and have been watching Gangs of London whilst riding. Very violent but my sort of thing. Also been reading a couple of Robert Dugoni books, The Eighth Sister and The Last Agent. Based around an ex CIA spy who goes back into Russia for a last mission. Again my sort of thing and really enjoyable. Now reading The 7th Canon by him and although slightly different to the other two still very enthralling and well written. If anyone else uses Kindle Unlimited and has any recommendations please let me know. Work is still stupid busy and getting harder by the day as more and more people seem to have given up on COVID rules and more and more want to argue and blame retail workers for the whole pandemic. The sooner non essential retail opens up and we can return to a bit of normality the better.
It does make you wonder what the real short term and long term aims of the brothers are. Will they be looking for a quick turnaround and a quick profit or are they in for the long haul. There have been many rumours circulating around how they will finance the debt including the sale of the George clothing brand, giving all alcohol sales to an outside company such as Bargain Booze. They are strong believers in their faith and do not sell alcohol through any of their current ventures. As a company Asda are already giving away space to concessions and have recently introduced trials with B&Q and last week started a five shop trial, including my store, with The Entertainer Toy Company. If you just take this particular trial there are so many benefits to Asda's bottom line. No shipping costs, no wage costs, no theft and shrink costs, a guaranteed profit. In an ever increasingly price driven (thank you very much Aldi and Lidl) market the necessity to cut costs to preserve market share through competitive pricing has never been greater. Eventually the easiest way to cut costs always comes back to wage costs and as a result I can see more efficiencies and the associated wage cuts being seen not just at Asda but also across the whole food retail sector. On a personal note what this means for me is anyone's guess. At the end of the boom times, due to the lockdown and associated closing of non essential retail and the hospitality industry, I am pretty certain we will see some form of restructuring that was already on the cards pre covid. What I do know is that at the best of times the food retail sector is a very fast changing environment to work in and I have a feeling the next 12 -24 months may well see it go into overdrive. It is going to be very much a case of survival of the fittest not only at company level but also at store level. It's time to buckle up and ride the retail rollercoaster again.
Great news that we finally have a path out of lockdown and that The Grove beer garden is in sight. One thing I don't get is the sudden inclusion of another 1.7m people on the CEV list. This is having a big impact at work and as many of the colleagues affected have said 'what is the point? I have spent the last 12 months in the work environment and now you are telling me to have 5 weeks off.' Huge rumours of a major restructure and redundancies happening at work this week but we shall have to wait and see. Could put a different perspective on moving and if that is the case better to know now and be able to pull out before we put pen to paper. I will keep you updated. Villa without Grealish did ok v Leicester in the second half I thought. In truth we never had a deep enough quality squad to really maintain a push for Europe and a top half finish would mean a very successful season in my eyes. It was good to see three U18's on the bench for the Leicester game and Jacob Ramsey is now only a matter of time from getting his first start in the Premier League. Thought he and Sanson did well when coming on and wouldn't be surprised to see one of them start ahead of Barkley, who continues to disappoint after such a promising start. Not played much poker last week or so and bankroll hasn't moved much.
Poker was good last night, winning the £2k Turbo BH and a fifth in The Mini. Ran unbelievably well in the Turbo and just knew from very early on that it was going to be my night. Its funny how sometimes you just 'know'. Although I was pleased with fifth in The Mini I didn't really play the FT as I was heads up in the Turbo and was concentrating on this far more. Did make me wonder how people normally cope with that sort of situation. Maybe an age thing and the youngsters can just do it. I have been playing a bit here and a bit there lately so the bankroll on here had been somewhat decimated by transferring to other sites but now looks in a far healthier place. It also means that for the year as a whole across all sites I am now £745 in profit. Tonight I am only playing the 4 tournies, 6:30pm £1k BH, 7 at 7, £1k Rebuy BH and the £22 £1k BH. On the subject of poker I would strongly recommend that you all take a look at @PBKR Twitch stream. The lad is an absolute natural and a really entertaining streamer. I believe his next stream is on Saturday evening. Villa are having a bit of a rollercoaster ride at the moment and it astounds me that some fans are acting like it is the end of the world. I honestly don't know what people expect as whatever happens between now and the end of the season it has definitely been a successful one. Been watching a bit of the cricket and the two most enjoyable sites have been the wall to wall sunshine and THE CROWD. What a difference that makes although I do wonder if they have heard of COVID in India judging by the complete disregard for social distancing. The weight loss has slowed, as it inevitably will but I am now down to 191lbs, from a start of 206lbs and only 9lbs off my target of 13 stone. Need to get a shuffty on as the pubs re-opening and sunny days won't help! The house move is dragging on as we await the last thing, the sellers pack from the management company for our buyers. I am assured that once we get this that will be that, unless there are any problems with it, which considering that our buyers already own a property under the same management company I can't imagine there will be. As soon as we have this we can exchange and I am hopeful for completion around the 21st March, although thanks to Mr Sunak the rush to complete by end of March is now not essential. The management restructure at Asda has now been confirmed and my role is not affected. I do think there is probably more to come later in the year and that this is the first phase but we will wait and see. If you look at Amazon launching their till-less store in London I think technology will continue to eat away at the retail sector workforce and if there was only one thing certain in retail it is that nothing is certain.
Another decent result last night with a 2nd in the £22, £1k BH. Had a decent HU battle with Bates, got lucky once and then ended up losing a flip. Really enjoying my poker at the moment, probably helps when the results are on the up, and have found that I have changed my game slightly with regards to defending from the BB and the need to chase the bounties in certain situations. Long may this upward trend continue. House move is on the verge of exchanging and if we can exchange by next Monday/Tuesday we will be completing on Monday 22nd March fingers crossed. If we can't exchange by then we will be looking to complete after Easter as work will get in the way of moving. Looks like we will be doing our own moving as it is soooo hard to get a removal firm at the moment and to be honest I would rather hire a Luton do it myself and save approx £800. The good thing is that having spoken to our purchasers they are going to rent our house out and so are quite happy for us to take our time on moving day and if we need to make 2 trips they aren't bothered. My 25 year old son got laid off again yesterday, and so if anyone has any jobs going in and around Huddersfield and wants an intelligent and considerate young man let me know. Do feel for him as every time he gets settled his life seems to get turned upside down again. Weight loss is progressing well and I weighed in on Monday morning at 189lbs, my lightest for probably ten years or more. Still aiming for 182lbs. Villa play tomorrow night and even without Grealish I fancy our chances at St James's Park. So much so that I have made them my pick in this weekend's Talksport last man standing competition. Down to the last 2301 left in and £25k up top. Got my first vaccine booked for Tuesday and really beginning to believe that we maybe going on a summer holiday this year. Hurrah!
Comments
I've used a BMW dealer for the last 20 years & their customer service is awesome. Services etc are not cheap, but they do them thoroughly.
Lots of fuss about Grealish/Barkley-McGinn is seriously under-rated
Agree about McGinn, does so much work with Luiz that give Grealish and Barkley the time and space to do their thing.
Guess who's back?
Quite a bit to catch up on starting with the poker. I have spent a bit of time on the streets at Party playing some of their MTT's and can report a profit of a couple of hundred quid. What it has meant is that I am now in profit for the year 2021 by the bankroll I have on here -£60, so basically +£550. Headed back to the 20nl tables on Sky last night and opted in to the Championship promo. The big difference now is that I have connected the laptop to a monitor and now play sat at a table rather than in an armchair perusing Twitch whilst playing. This has definitely improved the concentration levels and gives me hope that I can start to consistently win on the cash tables.
Villa are very up and down at the moment but are still heading in the right direction and it is nice to be looking up rather than looking down at this time of the season. Fear for Newcastle but not surprised that Bruce is again showing he is out of his depth in the Premier League.
Should of been skiing last week but spent it instead tidying (3 full trips to the tip), packing and removing light fittings. We are getting pretty close to exchanging and getting a completion date. Pretty confident we will be done before end of March and hence be stamp duty free.
New BMW is a joy to drive and makes me wonder why I would ever choose a manual gearbox again.
Been on a bit of a weight loss program, mainly eating healthy (1500 calories max a day) and doing 15km rides on my exercise bike. I have managed to now lose 12lbs and definitely feel more comfortable for it. I ride my bike in front of the TV and have been watching Gangs of London whilst riding. Very violent but my sort of thing. Also been reading a couple of Robert Dugoni books, The Eighth Sister and The Last Agent. Based around an ex CIA spy who goes back into Russia for a last mission. Again my sort of thing and really enjoyable. Now reading The 7th Canon by him and although slightly different to the other two still very enthralling and well written. If anyone else uses Kindle Unlimited and has any recommendations please let me know.
Work is still stupid busy and getting harder by the day as more and more people seem to have given up on COVID rules and more and more want to argue and blame retail workers for the whole pandemic. The sooner non essential retail opens up and we can return to a bit of normality the better.
Bankroll £613.
@68Trebor
Any views on this:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56085128
We’re getting there. We’ve completed on my house and so just need to wait on my partners.
I’ll always go with Autos now. Much easier to drink lattes in them
If you haven’t already, Daniel Silva is a good read. Mossad stuff
It worries me on a personal
It does make you wonder what the real short term and long term aims of the brothers are. Will they be looking for a quick turnaround and a quick profit or are they in for the long haul. There have been many rumours circulating around how they will finance the debt including the sale of the George clothing brand, giving all alcohol sales to an outside company such as Bargain Booze. They are strong believers in their faith and do not sell alcohol through any of their current ventures. As a company Asda are already giving away space to concessions and have recently introduced trials with B&Q and last week started a five shop trial, including my store, with The Entertainer Toy Company. If you just take this particular trial there are so many benefits to Asda's bottom line. No shipping costs, no wage costs, no theft and shrink costs, a guaranteed profit. In an ever increasingly price driven (thank you very much Aldi and Lidl) market the necessity to cut costs to preserve market share through competitive pricing has never been greater. Eventually the easiest way to cut costs always comes back to wage costs and as a result I can see more efficiencies and the associated wage cuts being seen not just at Asda but also across the whole food retail sector. On a personal note what this means for me is anyone's guess. At the end of the boom times, due to the lockdown and associated closing of non essential retail and the hospitality industry, I am pretty certain we will see some form of restructuring that was already on the cards pre covid. What I do know is that at the best of times the food retail sector is a very fast changing environment to work in and I have a feeling the next 12 -24 months may well see it go into overdrive. It is going to be very much a case of survival of the fittest not only at company level but also at store level. It's time to buckle up and ride the retail rollercoaster again.
Good luck with your house move, stressful times indeed.
I will definitely give Daniel Silva a read as I do enjoy 'Mossad stuff'
If you haven't watched 'Homeland' give it a go think you may enjoy it.
Cheers @Asho28
Good luck with your bankroll challenge!
Great news that we finally have a path out of lockdown and that The Grove beer garden is in sight. One thing I don't get is the sudden inclusion of another 1.7m people on the CEV list. This is having a big impact at work and as many of the colleagues affected have said 'what is the point? I have spent the last 12 months in the work environment and now you are telling me to have 5 weeks off.'
Huge rumours of a major restructure and redundancies happening at work this week but we shall have to wait and see. Could put a different perspective on moving and if that is the case better to know now and be able to pull out before we put pen to paper. I will keep you updated.
Villa without Grealish did ok v Leicester in the second half I thought. In truth we never had a deep enough quality squad to really maintain a push for Europe and a top half finish would mean a very successful season in my eyes. It was good to see three U18's on the bench for the Leicester game and Jacob Ramsey is now only a matter of time from getting his first start in the Premier League. Thought he and Sanson did well when coming on and wouldn't be surprised to see one of them start ahead of Barkley, who continues to disappoint after such a promising start.
Not played much poker last week or so and bankroll hasn't moved much.
Bankroll £605
I think Barkley is a wrong 'un & is a bad influence on the squad. You can do fine without him.
The possible "restructuring" (ugh at that word) is worrying, fingers crossed for you.
Extension to stamp duty a bonus too
Cheers Jac.
Extension is defo a bonus as was beginning to get a bit nervous.
Poker was good last night, winning the £2k Turbo BH and a fifth in The Mini. Ran unbelievably well in the Turbo and just knew from very early on that it was going to be my night. Its funny how sometimes you just 'know'. Although I was pleased with fifth in The Mini I didn't really play the FT as I was heads up in the Turbo and was concentrating on this far more. Did make me wonder how people normally cope with that sort of situation. Maybe an age thing and the youngsters can just do it. I have been playing a bit here and a bit there lately so the bankroll on here had been somewhat decimated by transferring to other sites but now looks in a far healthier place. It also means that for the year as a whole across all sites I am now £745 in profit. Tonight I am only playing the 4 tournies, 6:30pm £1k BH, 7 at 7, £1k Rebuy BH and the £22 £1k BH. On the subject of poker I would strongly recommend that you all take a look at @PBKR Twitch stream. The lad is an absolute natural and a really entertaining streamer. I believe his next stream is on Saturday evening.
Villa are having a bit of a rollercoaster ride at the moment and it astounds me that some fans are acting like it is the end of the world. I honestly don't know what people expect as whatever happens between now and the end of the season it has definitely been a successful one. Been watching a bit of the cricket and the two most enjoyable sites have been the wall to wall sunshine and THE CROWD. What a difference that makes although I do wonder if they have heard of COVID in India judging by the complete disregard for social distancing.
The weight loss has slowed, as it inevitably will but I am now down to 191lbs, from a start of 206lbs and only 9lbs off my target of 13 stone. Need to get a shuffty on as the pubs re-opening and sunny days won't help!
The house move is dragging on as we await the last thing, the sellers pack from the management company for our buyers. I am assured that once we get this that will be that, unless there are any problems with it, which considering that our buyers already own a property under the same management company I can't imagine there will be. As soon as we have this we can exchange and I am hopeful for completion around the 21st March, although thanks to Mr Sunak the rush to complete by end of March is now not essential.
The management restructure at Asda has now been confirmed and my role is not affected. I do think there is probably more to come later in the year and that this is the first phase but we will wait and see. If you look at Amazon launching their till-less store in London I think technology will continue to eat away at the retail sector workforce and if there was only one thing certain in retail it is that nothing is certain.
Bankroll £689
Well done on your result last night, you got a positive write up in the Results Thread.
Cheers @Tikay10 and thanks for the mention
Not bad for £11 and after a Saturday night bottle of Shiraz.
Bankroll £815
Another decent result last night with a 2nd in the £22, £1k BH. Had a decent HU battle with Bates, got lucky once and then ended up losing a flip. Really enjoying my poker at the moment, probably helps when the results are on the up, and have found that I have changed my game slightly with regards to defending from the BB and the need to chase the bounties in certain situations. Long may this upward trend continue.
House move is on the verge of exchanging and if we can exchange by next Monday/Tuesday we will be completing on Monday 22nd March fingers crossed. If we can't exchange by then we will be looking to complete after Easter as work will get in the way of moving. Looks like we will be doing our own moving as it is soooo hard to get a removal firm at the moment and to be honest I would rather hire a Luton do it myself and save approx £800. The good thing is that having spoken to our purchasers they are going to rent our house out and so are quite happy for us to take our time on moving day and if we need to make 2 trips they aren't bothered.
My 25 year old son got laid off again yesterday, and so if anyone has any jobs going in and around Huddersfield and wants an intelligent and considerate young man let me know. Do feel for him as every time he gets settled his life seems to get turned upside down again.
Weight loss is progressing well and I weighed in on Monday morning at 189lbs, my lightest for probably ten years or more. Still aiming for 182lbs.
Villa play tomorrow night and even without Grealish I fancy our chances at St James's Park. So much so that I have made them my pick in this weekend's Talksport last man standing competition. Down to the last 2301 left in and £25k up top.
Got my first vaccine booked for Tuesday and really beginning to believe that we maybe going on a summer holiday this year. Hurrah!
Bankroll £873.