Yep I'm still here! Much has changed in my personal life and I either hadn't had the time to post or either it's not been the right time to post any updates. Suffice to stay I'm still trading and hopefully I'll be back in the New Year to put some much needed fun back into both my life and this blog ...
Oh What a Jolly Xmas!
Yep I'm still here! Much has changed in my personal life and I either hadn't had the time to post or either it's not been the right time to post any updates. Suffice to stay I'm still trading and hopefully I'll be back in the New Year to put some much needed fun back into both my life and this blog ...
The Wheels Have Come Off Again! .... and Personal Training
What people don't realise is that when you have untold shit going on in your life then your work will suffer, If you do this for a living then it's so fucking easy for the wheels to fly off completely,
I've had so much fucking grief over the last few weeks that it's no surprise that I'm winning fuck all.
It's now 06/11 as I type this post and I haven't updated this blog for nearly 3 weeks. My P&L has gone totally tits up ...
I feel like crying ...
Personal Training
My initial thoughts are to provide a 1 to 1 trading day that takes place in my apartment down on the south-east coast. It would ideally be a full day and it would give people the chance to see how I trade. This would include my preparation, hardware and software setup, my actual strategies along with how I analyze each race and the markets. I can also cover any questions that you may have and hopefully help iron out and problems that you may currently be experiencing. It could also include a beer or 2 in the evening, although I an now a tea drinker!
So if you are interested just drop me some feedback on here and if there is enough demand I might well consider providing some sort of personal training.
21/10
Didn't trade today ...
22/10
Didn't trade today ...
23/10
+£34.99. Traded 3 races and realised that I've turned into a right miserable bastard. OK I have a few life/personal issues going on but nothing to get stressed about! I need to lighten up and stop moaning all the fucking time ...
24/10
-£13.39.
25/10
Didn't trade today ...
26/10
+£23.74. Time to have a pic from the Summer to cheer me up ...
27/10
+£141.43. Some brief respite from the previous days of untold shit in my life ...
28/10
+£21.72.
29/10
Didn't trade today ...
30/10
+£3.88. Traded one race ...
31/10
Didn't trade today. I think that lazy bastard'itus is starting to kick in!
01/11
Didn't trade today ...
02/11
+£83.37.
03/11
+£23.24.
04/11
Didn't trade today ...
05/11
+£169.19. A fucking miracle!
06/11
-£148.79. Whoops!
I'm now into my third week of not drinking alcohol and to be honest I don't miss it one bit!
OK so it's probably easier giving up Hoegaarden when it's bloody freezing outside and it may be harder when the sun comes out again next Summer but I'm doing mighty fine at this point in time and cups of tea seem to be the order of the day!
07/11
+£140.63. Almost recovered yesterdays losses!
08/11
+£57.73. It's time to string a few winning days together ...
09/11
+£272.39. That's a bit better ...
10/11
+£33.60. It was always going to be tough today with the return of flat racing at Southwell which I just can't get my head around. Therefore the mission was to post any sort of green and although £33 don't go very far it was mission accomplished. In fact it was so boring that I had a mid afternoon 90 minute snooze and I was so tired that when I woke up I thought that it was the morning!
11/11
I actually went out socially today and even though I fancied a beer I took the choice not have one and I had several cups of tea and lemonade instead!
12/11
+£202.32. A relatively busy Saturday (for November) and I managed to trade 45 races. I was off to a good start and chugged along nicely throughout the day. There weren't many overlaps of races and that makes the day much easier to manage rather than rushing about which tends to happen if you get too many races during the day.
13/11
+£200.30. A typical Sunday where I only traded 17 races but the result was a good one for this time of the year and it continued the winning run.
14/11
15/11
16/11
17/11
Time to Move On
It's quite apparent that if I stay where I am I will slowly and painfully end up doing my cash, so it's time to move on, Unfortunately my wife hates me and wants to make my life a fucking misery so any plans that I had of buying a place on the coast are totally fucked.
Instead I am going to have to rent a place and hope that I don't have to spend too much in the process on furniture, appliances and general moving costs, fees, etc.
Somewhere along the line no doubt a solicitor, estate agent and property developer will make a shit load of money from us but some women just can't see sense and if it goes down that road so be it.
Hopefully I can get myself set up pretty quickly with Virgin super fast broadband and Racing UK and then I can crack on. It won't be the same renting and it seems fucking stupid that I could buy a place and have very little overheads but as mentioned above I've been forced down the rent route so will have to earn a bit more than usual to cover the expenses.
15/10
+£92.56. Fuck me I actually won today!
16/10
+£210.08. It's time to look forward and grasp the endless opportunities instead of staying still and slowly sinking in a pool of shit infested mud!
17/10
+£163.25. I only traded 24 races today but went along steadily after a good start. I took a backwards step to the tune of £60 in the 16:40 but immediately bounced back with a win of £80 in the next so I'll take that, especially after my recent trials, tribulations and associated poor run of form.
18/10
+£9.98. I was cruising along and nicking a few quid here and there and then dumped £120 in one race and ended up back at square one doh!
19/10
+£239.23. I concentrated hard today as I didn't want to make a midday balls-up like yesterday. I took advantage of someone else's mistake in one race and that helped boost the profits so it ended up as a fair effort.
20/10
+£73.67. I had an OK start today but then it was tough going. I made the choice to play cautiously so as to get another green session under my belt as it's important to keep that positive feeling. Sometimes you have to disregard how much you have won on the day and just concentrate on doing the right things and eventually the nice wins will come along.
21/10
22/10
23/10
24/10
The Struggle Continues
The trading has taken somewhat of a back seat recently as I try and sort my shit out! I've reached that point in life where there are things that I want, such as solitude and freedom and unfortunately these are not typically things that come with marriage. Therefore I'm probably heading off in my own direction and that means doing something that I have wanted to do for quite a while now, well since the inception of this blog, and that is to move to the coast.
Luckily the properties in Ramsgate are relatively cheap but I'm still not too sure whether or not they are cheap enough for what I want! Ideally I'd like a 3 bedroom house close to the seafront but as per normal it's always the case that you see something that fits the bill and it's just out of your price range!
It's strange that because I have other things on my mind I don't have a clue whether I am doing well so far this month or not. I feel like I'm plodding along OK but as I type this it's 06/09 and I can't honestly say how I've done over the last 6 days!
01/10
+£188.08. I only traded 18 races today but had no losing trades so I'm happy with that kind of result and would be more than happy if I could nick that sort of amount on a daily basis over the next couple of months or so.
02/10 - 03/10
I spent a couple of days down at my Dad's house and came home feeling even more shattered than when I left!
04/10
+£120.29. I set fire to £70+ in one of the early races but then just chipped away so £120 wasn't a bad result I suppose.
05/10
Didn't trade today.
06/10
+£150.64. I had a good solid hour in the middle of the day but the remainder of the evening was pants!
07/10
-£32.38 ... the next few days losses are a stark reminder of what happens when your mind is totally fucked up ...
08/10
-£7.04 ...
09/10
-£44.37 ...
10/10 - 12/10
It's fucking hard to trade when your wife has just thrown all of your screens out of the front door and smashed them all on the pavement. It's also not too easy to keep a level head when the same woman destroys a grands worth of audio equipment and then in the melee you get headbutted by an irate Lithuanian cunt.
13/10
-£45.55. I don't think that I have EVER had 4 losing days on the spin but when you have a woman intent on destroying you then trust me it's fucking hard to concentrate on horses running around a field! It's also hard to start the day when you have just spunked hundreds on new monitors!
14/10
For some strange reason I didn't quite fancy trading today.
Gone AWOL!
I must admit that although it happens very seldom I do sometimes have periods where I fail to update this blog on a regular basis.
I'm at that age where I've hit a mid-life crisis and trying to sort out personal issues has meant that the blog has taken a back seat for a while. I've also had quite a few days off, mostly to take advantage of the fine late summer weather that we have been experiencing.
The trading has been a bit hit and miss due to new fluctuations in the markets but the key here is to recognise when these happen, what is happening and how to take advantage of the way in which the markets have altered.
I'm going to make a conscious effort to resume the light-hearted theme of this blog which may take some effort initially as I've been really fucked off, depressed and at sometimes quite fucking sad over the last few weeks (sure signs of manic depression).
Hopefully I can get back to 'normal' and start posting more pictures of me on the piss and recounting the weird and wonderful things that usually happen when I'm out there in the twilight zone ... better known as Ramsgate after midnight!
31/08
-£5.11 ... fuck know's what happened but looking at my results I was up and down, much like my current mood swings, like a whores drawers!
01/09
+£86.97. For some reason I only managed to trade 20 races ...
02/09
+£263.02. It's always good to look back after a few weeks thinking that you had a bad month and then see that on at least one day you had a good result! However, if truth be told I nicked £200 in the first race of the day in the place market!
03/09
+£184.59. I only traded 25 races today and had to wait until the very last race before I had a good result and managed to nick over £100, once again in the place market! Kind of like Man Utd when they always managed to score a winner in extra time ... bastards!
04/09
-£5.93. I only traded 15 races today so it must have been a Sunday?
05/09
+£26.13. I only traded 9 races today .... fuck knows why, I cant remember!
06/09
-£0.73. When your mind is elsewhere then your results will always suffer unfortunately ...
07/09
+£3.94. I think that I went to the beach, came home and traded 1 race at Kempton!
08/09
Fuck knows what I did today but I didn't trade ....
09/09
+£83.51. I only traded 17 races and was probably glad to get some sort of profit after a lean few days.
10/09
+£134.99. The number of races that I have traded recently on a daily basis has dropped, only 22 today, but I suppose that we are now approaching that time of year where the number of races per day drops to a much lower figure than in the peak of the summer.
11/09 - 14/09
It was time for a much needed break down on the coast. I had 2 days by myself in the sun and then the missus joined me, the sun got even hotter and I drank even more and got smashed on the Tuesday (the hottest day of the year?) had an argument with the missus and then decided to go swimming in the sea after consuming at least 8 pints at lunchtime! It wasn't the best breast stroke or front crawl ever witnessed!
I was so pissed that it took me a few attempts to actually get from being in 2 ft of water back onto dry land and I stacked it a few times in the sea. When I finally made it back onto the beach I fell over again trying to put my shorts on, rolled about like a pissed fool and managed to get a huge bruise on my ass and back! Not funny and definitely not clever!
15/09
+£187.87. Recouped a small percentage of what I spunked over the last few days down on the coast!
16/09
+£159.45. 18 races traded with only one small loss so the binge drinking session must have done me some good?
17/09
+£167.00. Another OK day to keep the ball rolling ...
18/09
+£16.36. Fuck knows what happened today as I only traded 9 races?
19/09
+£120.24. Today could have been so much better as I managed to lose the best part of £100 in the last 4 races of the evening doh!
20/09
+£85.67. One decent win saved the day today ...
21/09
More nice weather today so another day down on the beach.
22/09
+£332.12. Normal service has been resumed ...
I quite fancied a drink after the racing in the evening and smashed into 3 bottles of Franziskaner that I had chilling in the fridge. These put me in the zone but when I went back to the fridge at around midnight there wasn't a beer to be seen! The only solution was to cycle to the local 24 hour shop. Now obviously their range of wheat beer was non-existent so I decided to cycle the 3 miles to Tesco to source some Hoegaarden. Flying along on your bike at 00:30 in the morning with no lights isn't a particularly good idea but fuck I felt faster than Chris Froome. It's only when I got off the fucker at Tesco that I realised how pissed I already was! I stumbled about the deserted isles and came away with 2 bottles of Hoegaarden and a packet of scones. I literally flew back home, only drank half a bottle but managed to eat most of the scones and finally hit the sack at about 02:30.
23/09
+£11.94. I traded 25 races today and never really got going. As some of you may have noticed the markets have been changing on a daily basis and that means that what works one day does not work the next. The key here is to identify when this happens and alter your style to suit. On days like this I am usually in more of a 'damage limitation' mode as you can often find yourself sticking to the same old strategy hoping that things will change during the day. It's only at the end of the day that you realise that maybe you should have quickly switched to plan B when you first noticed that things weren't 'normal'.
24/09
+£150.84. I was off to a flyer but then trundled through the remainder of the day without really making much progress.
25/09
+£68.71. Wank Sunday.
It's 03:30 on a Sunday morning so I have a bit of time on my hands! Here's how I generally approach a days' racing:
- If you have the time then try and get a rough idea of the usual running styles of each horse in every race. Now this takes time I must admit, but if you do have this time then it's worth the effort as you can go into each race with a rough idea of how you think that the race will be played out. If you don't have the time for this then start by concentrating on maybe the first and second in the market and have an idea if you want you entry point to be a back or a lay.
- I don't have any set targets in terms of profit. You have to take whatever you get without constantly checking your P&L
- Concentrate on 3-4 horses each race. Find those with marked running styles such as leaders, hold up horses, strong travellers, good/bad jumpers, etc.
- Have an idea in your mind what you expect to happen in the early stages of each race and how you expect the market to react.
- Look at the market in the last few seconds before the off, concentrating on those horses that you have selected above, and note any strength or resistance. For example, if you are thinking of laying a hold-up horse because it will be slow away and at the back of the field yet there is strength for it in the market then that is probably not a good idea. This indicates that people know it's a hold-up horse and therefore even if it is slow away the price may not drift and that could leave you in a world of pain. The same applies for potential leaders, etc. If you think that one is going to spring out of the stalls and lead all of the way and yet there is opposition in the market seconds before the off then it's probably not a good idea to B2L even if it does lead early.
- When do finally do take a position then you need to know how you expect the market to move and in what time frame. Let's say that you want to lay a potential slow starter at 5.0 if it misses the break. If you do indeed get matched early then you now need to have a plan of how you are going to exit your position with the maximum profit. If you have laid it for £50 at 5.0 then you may be thinking of backing it back in chunks of £5 a time at anywhere between 7.0 and 10.0. If the market moves in your favour (and obviously you are expecting this to happen pretty quickly) you can maybe fire in a few back bets at good positions in the market. You then expect these to be quickly taken and therefore your green zone is expanded. I tend to like to get to a position where I have phased out most of my initial stake, in this case £50, and then you can manage the remainder accordingly. In this case if your selection is falling out the back of the telly then there is no need to hit the green button as you want to take the maximum profit.
- If the market doesn't move how you expected then get the fuck out of there ASAP without hesitation. If it means taking a red just take the fucker!
If anyone has any particular questions then please let me know.
I'll try and start recording some videos and stick them up here ....
Happy trading!
When you go to bed at 20:00 and wake up at 04:00 then you just have to pick up the guitar and twang ...
26/09
+£59.99. Wank Monday!
27/09
Ayr abandoned today so couldn't be bothered ...
28/09
+£70.47. I only traded a handful of races today ...
29/09 - 30/09
I went house hunting and drinking in Ramsgate. There's plenty of cheap property down there and I may be able to buy something dependant upon how much we can get for our gaff in London. Fingers crossed ...
August
01/08
+£217.60 ...
02/08
+£296.68 ...
03/08
-£10.37 ...
04/08
+£196.26 ...
05/08 - 08/08
Holiday ...
09/08
+£35.50 ...
10/08
-£9.84 ...
11/08
+£27.91 ...
12/08
+£143.23 ...
13/08
-£4.99 ...
14/08
+£62.38 ...
15/08
+£7.77. Halfway through the month and it all seems to have gone a bit tits-up. There's been plenty of racing but I keep running into races where I drop a bundle and then have to spend all fucking day trying to get back to dry land .... BOLLOX!!!
16/08
-£8.51. Lost a tenner so went our for a few beers ...
17/08
The weather was great today so I fucked off to the naturist beach stripped off and sat naked in the sun all day..
18/08
-£80.58 ...
19/08
+£66.43 ...
20/08
+£226.01 ...
21/08
+£301.29 ...
22/08
-£61.76 ...
23/08
+£107.17 ...
24/08 - 27/08
Holiday and beach ...
28/08
+£25.60 ...
29/08
-£66.40 ...
30/08
+£59.27 ...
31/08
xxx
Phew What a Scorcher!
Well where the fuck did that come from eh? One minute we're sitting here in our thermals and a few days later we're roasting our bollox off!
I hit the coast on 15/07 and ran into a few days of scorchio weather! On Friday I cycled from Whitstable to Ramsgate.
It was both very enjoyable and also relatively easy, probably due to my new slimmer physique. In truth I probably drunk less alcohol on the way but nonetheless it was a cracking ride along the coast and the weather was spot-on!
On Saturday I re-fuelled and it was generally a bit cloudier, but that didn't stop me from guzzling a few pints in the morning/afternoon session. In fact I probably over indulged as I didn't make it out in the evening ... what a lightweight!
The weather on Sunday was cracking so after the normal routine of an early start (around about 08:30) and mid afternoon siesta I was back on my bike in the evening and flew down to The Zetland Arms @ Kingsdown which is just past Deal.
After three pints of Whitstable Bay Blonde I made my way back along dark and deserted country paths and arrived back in Ramsgate at around midnight for a sneaky Hoegaarden.
The weather stayed well fine on Monday so I repeated Sunday's exercise and got another 30+ cycling miles under my belt by doing another late night ride to Kingsdown and back again!
I would have loved to have stayed for a few more days but there's only so much abuse that my body can take! I decided that four days was enough and hopefully I can get a few more sessions down there once I have recovered!
13/07
+£23.40. I managed to back the fucker in Ireland whose saddle had slipped forward and had to bail for a £120+ loss. Unbelievably the horse then went on to win!
14/07
+£139.03. I only traded 32 races today but only had one small loss so I suppose it's a few beer tokens in the bank ...
19/07
+£201.26. It's always good to get a winning day under my belt after a few days away in the currant bun.
20/07
+£94.30. I traded plenty of races today but just couldn't get going and it was a case of picking up pennies here and there with the occasional win £50 and then lose £50 scenario.
21/07
+£150.96. I only traded 32 races today and it was mostly nicking a few quid here and there when I could ...
22/07
+£142.17. Another day much like yesterday ...
23/07
+£151.84. Another day of nicking a few quid here and there with no particularly spectacular results.
24/07
The sun shone today so it was up at the crack of dawn and down to the naturist beach! I had a day of just lying about in the sun and drinking 0% wit beer. A cracking day doing fuck all and even though I slapped on the factor 50 I did get a bit burnt on my stomach and legs. All I'm doing now is looking out for the next sunny period and off I go again!
25/07
+£25.30. Plenty of racing for a Monday but I was down early and really struggled throughout the day, only just making it back into profit.
26/07
+£310.31. Once again I had a poor start to the day but then had some nice trades in the evening and ended up well ahead at the close of play.
27/07
+£151.49. A steady but unspectacular day ...
28/07
+£73.13. A real struggle today ...
29/07
+£283.58. Only 38 races traded today but I only had 3 small losses and the few £20+ wins soon mounted up.
30/07
+£104.51. Although it was a Saturday today I only traded 11 races! All wins and no losses and then an early evening snooze and out with friends for a few 0% beers!
31/07
+£132.46. Dumped almost £40 in the first race and then had 20 winning trades ...
Bollox to this Wank Weather!!!
It's fucking pants! Fast approaching the middle of July and we're struggling to get two consecutive days of sunshine anywhere on the south east coast! The factor 50 has only been out twice so far this year, once in Topsham and once last week on my Folkestone to Ramsgate ride.
'Once Daily' ... more like fucking 'Once Yearly' if this wank weather continues!
I was also hoping to have had a few days down at the naturist beach by now but the shite weather has well and truly scuppered that plan!
The only good thing is that this means more days of trading and hopefully more cash in the bank for when the summer does actually arrive!
01/07
+£235.85. Traded 57 races today and was over £100 down within an hour due to a wanky trade doh! So it was then a case of chip chip chip away and gradually turn the deficit into a profit.
Hoegaarden in The Belgian Cafe when we visited in June ...
02/07
+£266.10. A few good wins in the evening helped boost the profit for the day.
Carling in The Royal also in June ...
03/07
+£10.58. Two consecutive losses saw me lose over £100 in the last hour of Sunday trading so it was good to show some sort of profit instead of a loss.
Another Carling outside The Queens Head ...
04/07
+£150.86. I started the day fairly well but the evening shift was a bit hit and miss.
And yet another Carling in The Port & Anchor ...
05/07
+£89.03. Mediocre City!
Another one outside The Queens Head in the evening ...
06/07
+£233.39. A long overdue steady day of trading 32 races with only one small loss.
A Hoegaarden nicely polished off in The Belgian Cafe ...
07/07
+£115.86. I always struggle at Newmarket and Newbury and today was no exception. It was a case of chip away where I could and I gladly took whatever profit came my way.
08/07
+£432.56. A cracking day today with 48 races traded, one good win and a few small losses.
09/07
+£131.66. Dare I say that the coastal weather looks good for this coming weekend so it's time to get the drinking boots on again!
10/07
-£8.76. I was over £100 down after a few races so I suppose that losing less than a tenner on a Sunday wasn't too bad?
11/07
+£423.06. It would have been a pretty poor day today, especially as I dropped over £200 in the last race! However, I had a stonking result in one of the earlier Irish races and acquired some much needed beer tokens.
12/07
+£99.49. Would have been an OK sort of day if I hadn't lost £60+ in the last 2 races of the evening doh!
13/07
14/07
15/07
16/07
17/07
18/07
19/07
20/07
Time to Crack Open the Factor 50?
I really did believe that I would be sitting in the sun slurping a few beers by this time of year, but alas the typical English summer weather has thwarted that plan! Every morning I race to the PC to view the Met Office, Metcheck and weather-forecast websites (like the optimistic fool that I am) in the hope that I'm greeted by news of an impending heatwave, or at least a string of 2 or 3 nice sunny days. Unfortunately the first half of June has yielded fuck all in the terms any half-decent weather. So imagine my surprise and delight when I checked the forecast this morning ...
Next Thursday onwards could well be sunny! Now we all know that the met office are 100% super reliable in their ability to predict the weather but just to make sure I thought that I'd better double check elsewhere ...
So Metcheck are along the same lines and ...
... weather-forecast.com seem to agree.
This year I think that I'll setup base in Ramsgate and jump on an early train to Folkestone with the bike and cycle back along the coast and over the white cliffs of Dover.
It's probably about 30 miles and mostly off-road, with 1 or 2 hills, so all I have to do now is plan some sort of route and also try to identify early opening boozers along the way!
I'm currently hovering around the 82.0kg mark so would love to shed 3 kilos over the next few days so that I can start in Folkestone at around 79.0kg. If I carb delete over the next 5-6 days then I can lose some fat and then have a much needed re-feed/alcoholic top up day or 2 down by the coast along with some bike cardio!
As for the trading, well is it just me or are some of the in-running markets almost unplayable because of the super low liquidity? (as mentioned in my last post). I've noticed recently that some of the weaker markets have practically no money on either side of the ladder, I'm talking literally fivers and tenners here and there, which means that if you're entering with a 3 figure stake then a) you're going to get matched for peanuts and b) if you get it wrong then you can't get out and you are fooked!
A few weeks back I made an off the cuff remark about providing some in-running training. Surprisingly I had quite a few people ask for more details. To be honest I haven't really given it much thought but if enough people want the training, and are willing to pay a lot of cash for it, then I might do something.
15/06
+£72.71. I traded 29 races today and only had 2 losses, however one of those was for over £100 which kinda put a dampener on the day doh!
16/06
+£244.99. A real solid day of trading today. No big wins but just small wins here and there and the total soon mounts up. A few more days like today would be most welcome in order to boost the beer token fund for next weeks jaunt to the coast ... weather permitting.
17/06
+£270.04. A good steady day with a couple of nice wins in the evening.
18/06
+£207.64. Another steady day with plenty of small wins here and there ...
19/06
I couldn't be bothered today so went to the pub instead!
20/06
+£312.55. I couldn't be arsed with just Southwell in the afternoon but then got lucky in one of the early races @ Wolves and won a carpet. Apart from that it was wank!
21/06
+£9.09. Only managed to trade 23 races today and they were mostly pants!
22/06
+£120.41. A bit better than yesterday but only 27 races traded with one loss and 26 small wins ...
23/06
+£71.52. I only managed to trade 22 races and it was slim pickings all day ...
24/06 - 26/06
I couldn't hold out any longer! I was out of bed just before 04:00 and managed to catch the 06:10 from Ramsgate to Folkestone. The weather was great but the hills were fucking steep in some parts!
Fortunately the beer was plentiful and sooper chilled!! I ended up having a great time and cycled through some beautiful countryside and alongside some nice beaches. Most enjoyable!!
28/06
+£193.34. First day back from my 4 day break and I only traded 20 races so was happy with the result.
29/06
+£75.52. Pretty much a fruitless day of small wins alongside equally sized losses. In fact my profit was made pretty much in the last hour of the evening.
30/06
+£269.11. A good finish to the month with some steady trading throughout the day and a good effort in the evening racing as well.
Early Summer in Devon
As mentioned in my previous post I had arranged to visit a couple of very good old friends down in Devon and for once the weather did not disappoint!
Surprisingly the trip down there only takes just over 2 hours so we were in Exeter just after 16:00 on Friday which gave us plenty of time for a couple of beers on the veranda followed by a forced march into town and another couple of beers and a pizza.
On Saturday we took the train to Exmouth for more walking and a few more sherberts. In the evening we popped out for a meal and even more beers in a nice boozer and yet more walking! I also had the chance to have a play with my new GoPro camera and here's my first go at doing some editing ...
The weather was absolutely glorious on Sunday so we made the most of it and took the train to Topsham for yet more walking followed by a nice little beer session sitting outside a boozer overlooking the river Exe.
It was blistering hot but luckily I had packed the factor 50 and 6 or 7 pints of Amstel also helped to keep us cool!
25/05
+£141.51. Steady daytime trading but the late evening didn't really produce any decent results.
26/05
+£221.17. More steady trading today with a nice little surge in the early evening period which helped accrue a few holiday beer tokens.
30/05
+£233.05. Despite it being a Bank Holiday I only managed to trade 30 races. It's always nice to get a half decent day in after a short break and that helped pay for some of the trip expenses.
31/05
+£152.74. I had a good start to the day and was over £100 up after about 30 minutes. Then pretty much nothing happened all afternoon until I dropped almost £100 on the evening racing only to get it all back in the last few races of the day!
01/06
+£275.88. I've caught the GoPro bug so while looking around on YouTube I noticed an interesting attachment known as a gimbal. It helps keep the camera steady when you are moving around so I thought 'well if I can win some cash today I'll get one'. I was pottering along and then had a couple of good wins so it was straight on to Amazon for a Prime one day delivery ... just in time for the weekend.
02/06
+£274.73. A nice steady day today with no major losses or fuck-ups.
03/06
English summertime bollox ....
We had booked a couple of days down in Ramsgate way back in February and sod's law the weather was pretty fucking crap! However, we had a great time and I had a chance to have another play with my new GoPro camera and gimbal ...
05/06
+£105.85. Sunday back from the coast and I only managed to trade 23 races so a fair result I suppose.
06/06
+£11.33. One of those fucking frustrating days where I just missed cracking entry points by a gnats cock and spent all day in front of the fucking screen for fuck all!
07/06
+£229.49. Today was very very slow and then late on in the evening I managed to knock out over £100 in one race and I then had the total arsehole! I sat there muttering 'wank fuck cunt bollox wank vagina prick nob twat' to myself as I'd just spent another day stuck in front of the screen and was about to end the day with less than I had in my pocket in the morning!
Now in the last race I backed the leader in the NH flat race as it had a very easy lead and yet the price didn't contract as I thought which led to more mutterings of 'fuck this bollox I don't believe it! What the fuck is happening?'. However in this scenario I sat tight as my selection was seemingly cruising along in the lead. As they turned for home he legged it off into the distance to be greeted by several 'oi fucking oi' screams from my living room!
08/06
+£89.48. Another one of my brilliant starts to the day when I backed a 1.05 loser! Ho hum, I cracked on as usual and managed to scrape a few quid back and end the day in front, if somewhat frustrated by my general incompetence.
09/06
-£21.93. It seems to have been a real tough week so far and I really struggled today. I once again managed to get myself behind by over £100 early doors and then spent the remainder of the day slowly recouping the losses.
10/06
+£318.77. I was literally winning pennies here and there for the first couple of hours and then things gradually picked up and I had a good late afternoon and evening.
11/06
-£202.86. It was probably one of the busiest days of the year today and I had a nightmare start. I hammered one late on in the place market when it jumped into a clear third place jumping the last and plenty of 3.2 was available. In fact I thought that someone had made a big mistake or that Betfair was stuck so I clicked a few times and then about 10 seconds later the fucker went past the post in fourth place doh! I was pretty much almost £300 down after 30 minutes of trading! I then had a cracking afternoon and had the loss down to less than £100 and then had a complete mare of a late evening and ended up over £200 down for the day doh! What a nob!
12/06
+£92.68. After yesterdays debacle I was looking to get any sort of winning day under my belt and I made a lovely start and was almost £100 up after 2 races. It was then a very frustrating Sunday afternoon where I couldn't get anything matched and then late on I managed to lose over £100 in 3 races and I was back to square one!! It get's so fucking annoying when that sort of thing happens, especially on the back of a shite Saturday. However, I pulled one out of the hat in one of the last races of the day and therefore managed to post a profit instead of what would have probably been a small loss.
13/06
+£114.17. Only traded 18 races on a wank of a day but only had 1 loss so can't complain.
14/06
+£156.43. A bit of an up and down day with some of the markets recently being unplayable as there's no fucking money in the queue once the race turns in play. The end is nigh ....
What's It Going To Be Then Eh?
With the Summer upon us it's time to get ready for sun, sea, sex, beer, cakes and burgers! As Caan has mentioned many times it's hard to resist the lure of the boozer and a cold beer when the currant bun is shining!
Apparently the weather all depends on this 'El Nino' bollox. Now depending upon what site you look at we're either going to have the hottest summer on record ... or the coldest! These nobs can't even predict tomorrow's weather accurately so fuck knows what they are doing try to predict weeks, months or even years into the future. One thing is for sure, when that bun shows itself I'm fucking off to the seaside!
The quote above ('What's It Going To Be Then Eh?') comes from the absolutely fantastic book, and film, 'A Clockwork Orange'. I usually take a couple of books when I go to the coast by myself and there's nothing better than sitting in the sun with a cold Hoegaarden, reading a good book and chatting to the locals. This pastime can then be repeated in the evening, minus the sun of course. Sitting there reading a book like this makes you seem like a really well educated bastard, although last year I was flitting between that and a couple of Dave Courtney books! However, if you read too many of these then you end up joining the ICF and looking like this ...
We have already booked a couple of days on the coast for early June and I'm also heading off to Exeter with some friends for a bit of a jolly and some walking if weather permits. Now back in the old days we would have given it some large on the alcohol intake but like many other old farts I think that we'll be having a slow stroll, plenty of munch and maybe a beer or 2 here and there!
13/05
+£288.93. I started well and had a pretty steady day today. Nicking a few quid here and there and avoiding big losses is obviously the best way to play as you can just cruise along with the minimal amount of stress.
14/05
+£294. 59. A cracking afternoon session followed by a very mediocre effort in the evening.
After my anniversary celebrations and having a few beers and a bit of munch last weekend my weight increased by a couple of kilos and I've been working hard to get to sub 80kg and hit the 79kg mark. I'm hoping to hit 79kg by 18/05 so that I can have a re-feed day and then squeeze in 2 more leg sessions (usually 5 days apart) before I journey to Exeter. I'm dreaming of carbs and can't wait to get stuck into cereals, muffins and reduced sugar Frijj drinks! In the mean time I'm using Koko dairy free coconut oil and it's bloody great!
Tastes absolutely fantastic and is super low in calories which all helps ..... and I've just found out that they do a chocolate version (as above) oh yeah roll on 79kg!
15/05
+£199.77. No fireworks today, just very steady trading. In fact, for all of you old fuckers out there, I was the BF trader equivalent of this guy ...
Back in the Exchange days I always fancied a nice watch but I found that when I had enough cash the urge to get one subsided. I really fancied one of these ...
Now I think that they were around the £2K mark at the time but I didn't really want to walk around my locality with two grands worth of bling on my wrist plus I'm a clumsy bastard and would have knocked it or scratched into within a few hours of getting it on my wrist!
Fast forward a few years and the urge for a watch has risen again and now I fancy a Luminox ....
Still a nice watch in my opinion and not so expensive at around the £250 mark. However, when browsing around online I came across this one ...
£14.99 from Argos and I also get a 10% discount!! Job done ...
16/05
+£414.92. I must have spent at least an hour today trawling the shelves of my local Asda in search of low fat/high carb food sources. I'm a real short sighted fucker so I had to hold each carton/packet/jar right up to my nose and peer over my glasses to check the relevant values per 100g. I felt like a right old codger, but eventually came away with Cornflakes, cinnamon bagels, pancakes, chocolate coconut milk/oil, honey, pasta, rice cakes, etc. Roll on Wednesday 18/05!
As for the trading .... well I only traded 34 races (it was a Monday) but traded like a beast and only had 1 loss! Well happy!
17/05
+£205.97. I hit the gym this morning completely drained of carbs/glycogen and when I weighed-in I was sub 80kg at 79.7kg. That's the lightest I have been for many years, maybe at least 20 years or even more!
I couldn't resist having a quick journey to Home Bargains, Iceland and Poundstretcher to see if I could pick up some more carb laden foodstuffs and came away with a nice pack of scones ... refeed day tomorrow!
I was just trundling along today and then had a £100+ win late on in the evening which made the day a bit more respectable.
18/05
+£187.67. I ate SO much today that I felt ill! A shed load of carbs went down very nicely. In fact I ate 13 meals all spaced out over a 24 hour period ... yummy!
19/05
+£243.58. I had a bit of munch left over from yesterday so it would have been rude not to finish it off! I also decided to have a day off from the gym and get ready for another big push over the next week before I go to Exeter.
20/05
-£44.44. Back to the diet and training regime!
I had a terrible start to the day and before I knew it I was almost £300 down! However, this is going to happen every now and then and it's just a case of remaining calm and cracking on as normal.
I don't set targets as such but I had it in my head that I'd be happy if I could get the loss to below £200 by the close of play, so it was just a case of playing carefully and chipping away as per normal. As soon as I got a few small wins under my belt I was back in the groove and was happy to finish the day with a loss of less than fifty quid.
21/05
+£123.66. No matter how many races you trade over the years you can still occasionally get 'caught in the headlights'.
Sometimes you can find yourself in a nice green position but almost paralysed as you try and decide whether to take the green on offer or hold out and wait for more. I've had a couple of races recently where I have either bailed out way too early or held on too long. I still have a lot to learn and my mouse dexterity and speed (fucking old codger git) needs to improve a bit ...
22/05
+£156.96. A fairly quiet Sunday and only 23 races traded so not a bad result.
23/05
+£4.41. What a fucking complete waste of a day!
24/05
+£35.93. A VERY frustrating day! So I thought 'fuck it' I'll buy myself something and decided to go for a new video camera. I've been thinking about getting one for quite a while now and have been looking at the GoPro range. I looked around at a few reviews and decided on the Hero 4 Silver and then remembered that Caan did some GoPro capture of his snowboard holiday and after speaking to him he confirmed that he also has that model ..... so off to Argos I go!
Caan also has the 'Pre-Race Trading Guide' promo currently going at the moment which gives you three months of 'The Geeks Toy' for free if you part with £39 which can't be bad at all!
I've just noticed that the promo ends on 27/05 but if you ask him nicely he might extend it to the end of May?
In fact I might even offer an in-running training course myself, although it would be a lot more expensive than £39!
Binge City
I managed to hit the 80kg on the 30th and I was well happy! However, the following day was my wedding anniversary so it was a case of guzzle as much beer as possible.
We had a damn good afternoon/evening session and I think that I had at least 8 pints, a curry, champagne and some slices of cake!
I can't remember what I munched when I got home but I do know that over the next 2 days I munched the remainder of the curry, jacket potatoes with cheese, crisps, cakes, milkshakes, several bowls of cereals, tuna and chicken. I just couldn't stop eating!
It was back to the gym and diet on 04/05 and much to my surprise I had only gone up to 81.3kg. Apparently the 'cheat' days increase the metabolism back to normal levels, after dieting for weeks, and therefore the body starts to burn the calories more effectively and doesn't try and hold on to as much fat and carbs as when you are dieting. In fact I stumbled across the use of 're-feed' days and found some interesting videos on YouTube. Apparently it's good to load up on carbs every 7-10 days during your dieting (or whenever you feel drained) as this kicks the metabolism back in and you actually lose weight more effectively. They are brilliant videos to watch when you are on a strict diet and feel absolutely knackered and fatigued!
I'm going to diet down to 79kg eating mostly protein and then have a re-feed day and smash into the weetabix, muffins, bread, chips and anything else that is tasty, low in fat but high in carbs!
29/04
+£115.92. I had a great start to the day, then lost most of it, and then chipped away to nick a few quid.
30/04
+£297.93. A right mixed bag of results today but one cracking trace in Ireland saved the day!
This is what Jurgen Klopp would look like if he was 80kg!
02/05
+£169.19. I didn't fare too well in the first few races of the day but then had a steady Bank Holiday afternoon.
03/05
+£214.14. Nice steady trading today.
04/05
+£198.51. It was back to the gym this morning for a lovely quad workout followed by a super steady day of trading with loads of small to medium sized wins.
05/05
+£328.52. I had a cracking start to the day but flagged a bit in the evening and gave some back doh!
06/05
+£108.76. One of those days where every time I won I would give it back a few races later! Strangely enough I fared better in the evening and managed to make some sort of profit on the day.
07/05
+£121.07. I wasn't going anywhere fast today and was drawing a blank until I had a decent win before giving some back again doh!
09/05
+£154.17. I had a day off yesterday as the weather was so fine and I indulged in a few beers and a bit of munch in the garden in the sunshine.
I had a nice £120+ win in the late afternoon but gave almost £100 back in a couple of subsequent races so all-in-all I did well to finish ahead on the day.
10/05
+£322.53. I had a really good start today and traded well all afternoon. Things seemed to quieten down somewhat in the evening but I still managed to nick a few more quid here and there ...
11/05
+£214.60. Another poor start put me behind early so I had to knuckle down and chip away to get myself back in front. I then kicked on in the late afternoon before winning practically fuck all in the evening session!
12/05
+£240.95. I had a cracking start to the day and then pretty much won fuck all in the evening doh!
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