The Isle of Wight, Great Yarmouth, Hastings and Morecambe
I am going to Portsmouth to see Ipswich on the 11th of this month to see Ipswich play. I thought that I might take the ferry and see the Isle of wight. but after reading Bronwen Maddox’s article in The Times today, I don’t think I’ll bother.
She says that the Isle is rather run down and virtually cut off from the rest of the UK, just like the other towns in the heading of this post. All places share higher unemployment than the rest of the country and have a run-down feel.
She says that the solution to the Isle of Wight’s problem is a bridge, just as all the other towns could do with transport connections to the rest of the UK to attract industry, jobs and tourists. I know the route to Yarmouth well and is it not only sib-standard, but very dangerous. upgrade it or perhaps the railway that runs alongside it and you might improve one of the worse unemployment blackspots in Southern England. I also drove to Hastings once. Never again!
These are the infrastructure projects that we must start. I even suspect that some might even be financed by the reduction in benefits, when the jobs are created.
The Pakistani Betting Scandal
Now I’ve held a bookmaking licence in my time and I’ve also had some good successes making the odd ridiculous bet. I had £10 each-way on Terimon for the Derby many years ago at 500-1 and it came second, so I made a profit of over a £1,000 on the transaction.
Usually though I’ve had inside information, as the horse has either been one of mine or it has been trained in the same stable. There was also my last winner, Joy of Freedom, who won at Folkestone at long odds, because she was pregnant and that had improved her no end!
But in all these cases the bookies offered the odds and we took them.
The one case we didn’t take the odds, was when my horse, Debach Delight, won at Ayr. She started at odds of 22-1 on, which meant that to win a pound, you needed to stake tenty-two. Not good betting odds, but I had noticed that to generate business the bookies were offering 10-1, if she won the race by ten lengths. When she duly won by twelve, I told the jockey about the betting, who said that I should have had a bet and told him, as he would have made sure I won. He wasn’t suggesting anything dishonest, but he had eased the horse down in the last furlong and if it had mattered, he would have made sure, she had won by the requisite distance, as she in fact had.
This just shows that if bookmakers offer silly bets, like whether the next delivery will be a no-ball, it is very easy to take advantage.
In part this is what has happened with the scandal involving the Pakistani cricketers. The bookies offer a silly bet, so someone takes advantage and asks the bowler to bowl a no-ball.
The first thing that needs to be done is rid the sport of these illegal bookmakers or at least the bets that encourage cheating. Only then will we be able to clean up the game.
I have to say that the response of Pakistani supporters in the UK, seems to have been exemplary, with most appearing to be extremely disappointed about the actions of the Pakistani players.
An Expensive way to keep the Bench Warm!
I had to laugh on Match of the Day last night, when the camera cut to all the expensive players that Manchester City have bought sitting quietly on the bench. They looked as bored as sin. I suppose I would if I was paid all that money and didn’t make the team.
But at least the right result happened as Sunderland won.
Don’t you just love it, when mega-rich people make a complete fool of themselves! I suppose though that it all redistributes the money, especially when your Italian striker crashes his £120,000 car.
Portsmouth on September the 11th
This will be my next match following Ipswich Town.
It might also need a bit of planning to get round the various ticketing regulations on the trains.
The easiest way would be to turn up at Whittlesford and buy a return ticket for Fratton, which is the nearest station to the ground. But this might be a problem as the ticket office there was unmanned yesterday and the automatic machine had been positioned so that the morning sunlight made it difficult to read.
Badly-Sited Ticket Machine at Whittlesford
These people were certainly having problems, so buying a ticket or collecting it from there might be a problem. I suppose I could get my ticket posted to my home.
So I think that I might take the train from Dullingham and go via Cambridge and King’s Cross, as I can buy a ticket from the conductor on the train. King’s Cross to Waterloo is also easier on the Underground than Tottenham Hale to Waterloo.
But the problem is that I can’t get a taxi at Dullingham, but I can pre-book one at Whittlesford.
But there is an additional complication. I want to have lunch with a friend at Micheldever, which is on the line to Fratton. So my journrey will actually be in three legs; Whittlesford to Micheldever, Micheldever to Fratton and Fratton to Whittlesford. It used to be that if you broke a journey and then continued on a later train in the same direction, that you could do this on the same ticket. I suspect this is now off the menu.
What is needed is a simple multiple ticket web site, where I enter the trains I want to travel on and then they post them to my house or I pick them up reliably at the first station.
I suspect that because of regulations though, I’ll need to buy a Whittlesford-Fratton return and buy an extra single ticket to get from Micheldever to Fratton.
And people think I’m getting paranoid!
Since I wrote that, I’ve found another problem. Not all trains to Fratton start from Waterloo and those of those that do not all go through Michedever, but the booking sites don’t seem to say which. It’s all very complicated. The Internet is supposed to make things simple not more difficult. Perhaps it would be easier to turn up and go at Waterloo and buy the tickets there. But that would mean I would have to leave earlier in the morning!
Don’t They Ever Learn?
Pakistani cricketers are once again in the brown stuff. This time, it’s about spot betting on whether a delivery is a no-ball or not. But the Pakistani cricket team has been involved in all sorts of scandals over the past few years. So you’d think that with all the problems in the country, that the cricketers would be playing to try to give some sort of lift to their unfortunate compatriots.
If the allegations are proven to be true, then those involved should be banned for life from ever playing cricket again!
The real curse is this spot betting. Imagine yesterday at Portman Road and you could bet on Grant Leadbitter hitting the bar from a free kick. (Actually, what he did deserved a goal!) But bookmakers in some places will take such a bet. Certainly no reputable or licensed one would.
As an aside to this Oxfam have just said that billions of pounds will have to be spent to reconstruct Pakistan and it must start now! Can we trust the country to spend the money wisely and not let it end up in the hands of crooks?
Even if we can, these cricketers have sowed the seeds of doubt in many peoples’ minds.
Ipswich Sitting Pretty
There is an old phrase about pride before a fall, so can Ipswich be proud that they are third in the nPower Championship, bearing in mind that they have to play the two teams above them; QPR and Cardiff City in their next two home games after Portsmouth away.
So we can all enjoy the league position, whilst we sit out the next few days of the International break.
A Dastardly Plot
I am a coeliac as well as being an Ipswich Town supporter. A couple of years ago, Delia was on the radio promoting one of her books and I got to ask her about gluten-free food. She admitted she didn’t know anything about it.
So why at the next away Derby match at Carrow Road don’t we give Delia a test? Let’s get four coeliacs and book a table for lunch before the match. I should say that I’ve asked Ipswich hospitality and they can do gluten-free as can Newmarket Racecourse and the two Premier League Clubs I’ve contacted.
There is one point has to be said. I also talked to Gordon Ramsey about gluten-free food in a restaurant. He said that if you book at least 24 hours before and say you want a gluten-free meal, the restaurant has no excuse for not giving you what you need. I have found that his advice usually works, except in a couple of cases where they have said they can’t, so I’ve just gone elsewhere.
Let’s hope she gets the message.
I always wonder if she got those “Wish You Were Here” postcards Town fans sent on the European adventures a few years ago.
New Readers
I was given a write-up in the Ipswich Town program today and some people who visit, may have been directed from the program.
Don’t take anything I say too seriously, as underneath it all I try to amuse and inform. Remember too, I have other interests outside Ipswich Town, like art, architecture, engineering and trains. I also feel that one of the ways we’re going to get this country out of the mess it’s in, is by appreciating what we’ve got here in these Isles and enjoying it. Who would have thought that a visit to Middlesbrough or Crewe could be so enjoyable. But they genuinely were and I shall be visiting other places in the next few months, that might be equally unpromising. Hopefully, they’ll be equally enjoyable, even if Town don’t win or the trip has nothing to do with football.
The next trips will be Portsmouth and Scunthorpe.
Feel free to post comments. I reserve the right to remove those that are not constructive!
Is Something or Someone Getting At Me?
I’m certain, I’ve read it somewhere, but when you have a stroke you do get a slightly bit paranoid.
I have had a couple of good days, but things seem to keep going wrong despite the most thorough planning beforehand.
It started on Monday, where the house I was wanting to buy in London failed its survey. Let’s face it, I’m crocked enough without having to worry about a house that’s about to fall down on top of me as well.
Yesterday, the plan was simple. I would take the train into Cambridge, play an hour of real tennis and then take a bus back to Newmarket, so that my secretary could pick me up, when she went into town to do the banking. The tennis was great and really does help my movement and left arm, but then Stagecoach intervened. I got to the Drummer Street Bus Station at about 13:45 and that should have given me plenty of time to catch the bus a few minutes after two. When you can’t drive, you get used to the waiting. At 14:40 or so I gave up, as despite the text system telling me three times buses were due, nothing arrived. Obviously Stagecoach have it in for me.
I walked to the train station to catch the next train to Dullingham, which meant a wait at the station until 15:43. But at least the train was on time, even if the single coach was very crowded.
Friday improved after that, as I watched the cricket, where Trott and Broad entertained everybody with some purposeful batting. Also, a friend came round with a goodbottle of wine for pasta in the evening and we put the horse racing industry to rights. He even brought my basset hound a friend to play with!
Today was very much a curate’s egg. It started well, as a friend took me to the station to get the train to London and the train was on-time all the way. I had been intending to see several houses in London with my son, but five viewings had been reduced to two overnight and both had problems. I just feel that something is telling me that I have to stay here for the winter as a punishment. Where I live may be beautiful and in the middle of the country, but when on some days, you see no-one except the postman and the paper lady it is not good. At least my basset hound hasn’t decided to go and live elsewhere!
At least, I was able to get to Ipswich to see Town beat Bristol City, with the help of Calamity James. Sorry David, but you were at fault for both goals. This blog was also publicised in the program.
My problems today started, when I tried to get home. The train to Bury St. Edmunds was on time, but I couldn’t find a taxi in the town. One number said that I could have a taxi at 21:30.
Eventually, I walked to the town centre and found one, that drove me home. But because he was on the rank, he was fifty percent more expensive.
So am I right to feel paranoid? If I’m honest, I suppose I should forgo the simple pleasures in life, like watching Ipswich Town and just watch what Sky deigns to make available.
But that would mean giving into those dark forces that are trying to make me miserable!
I am however made of sterner stuff and won’t let the bastard or bastards get me down!
The other problem is that the bastard getting at me, has made Monday a Bank Holiday. So that means family viewing on the box and no decent sport either.
Iranian Football Rules
Ali Karimi has been called the Maradona of Asian football. However, he has now upset the regime for various reasons according to this article.
It would appear that he broke the rules on fasting during Ramadan by drinking in a training session, but the BBC reckons the real reason is politics not religion as he showed open support for those that felt they had been cheated of victory in the elections.
The Anonymous Widower 