Two Betting Blogs in Two Days!!!

I am just watching Rafa playing pants in the French and it has left me with a betting dilemma. his odds have gone down to 1.65 for him to win against Soderling which is about as good odds as you will ever get for Rafa to beat anyone these days but he is still playing badly and is 2-1 down so should I back him.

Alternatively should I back Murray to win the tournament now, with the potential to lay him off if he gets quite far? His odds are 13 at present and with Rafa potentially about to go out it would certainly open up his half of the draw, although I realistically can't see him winning the French.

Final thought is whether to back Fed now? He was my pick at the beginning of the tournament although I didn't actually back him, Djokovic has since gone out leaving him a (relatively) simple route to the final with the potential to play either a very out of form/tired Rafa (if he even wins this match) or a Scottish tosser who will probably be out by this stage anyway. What to do....???

Betting

Tonight involved a bit of betting. I watched a bit of the tennis which I thoroughly enjoyed, bet on Chelsea to win the FA cup after they went a goal down and also had a Chelsea & Rangers double which came off. Unfortunately I ended up making a loss by betting on a bloody reality TV show in Britain's Got Talent. It was my own stupidity which lost me the bet which was even more annoying. Having watched a bit of it this week and hearing some rave reviews about a Saxophonist (or whatever they like to be called) I felt he was a good bet, also he was on as the last act of the final (and traditionally the later on an act is the more they are remembered, hence more votes). I stuck some money on him thinking that he had a great shot of being in the top 3. With SuBo as a huuuuge favourite she was bound to be one of the top 3 the other spot could be fought out amongst the two big dance troops and maybe a young singer. So I felt it was a good shot particularly as his starting price was 14/1 which got even higher by the time I got the bet on.

Anyway to my amazement Betfair then suspended betting as the final 3 was announced. All my plans to lay him as soon as he was named in the final 3 went out the window so knowing he was unlikely to actually win I was kind of hoping he wouldn't be named in the top 3. He was. Rubbing salt in the wound as he was named the third best. Anyway enough rambling hopefully everyone is enjoying their sunny weekend, it certainly brings a smile to the face of everyone which can only really be a good thing, even at the time when I am really starting to regret doing this damn masters. Far too much work...and to think I have a whole dissertation to start is not a feeling I like at all. Today I thought of what my day may involve in 2 weeks time when this placement is over. Wake up, go to the gym, play some tennis do some dissertation, do some back rehab (I am now in intensive training to fix my back which has been buggered for far too long now) and then get plastered. Hopefully this fitness regime will carry on for as long as I don't have a job, and the drinking regime will go on for as long as I have someone to drink with (although this is not a necessity).

1 Month ago, 1 Month ago, 1 Month ago, 1 Month ago

J aside, 1 Month ago seems to be popping up on my blog a lot at the moment, where have all the bloggers gone? Surely dissertations, final exams, work and other things haven't got in the way of a 5 minute blog space? Anyway I'm still not enjoying myself on placement here is a prime example of what has been happening. Every day we have a 20minute break at 10:30, after doing bugger all, all morning my boss finally said let's go rehab one of the patients together at around 10:25. We went to see him and he was drugged up to the eyeballs and not ready to do anything, so she said just do some basic stuff while he's asleep finishing at 10:40, she would see another patient and we could then all go to break at 10:40. 2 minutes later she reappeared stating that her and the other physios were going to break now and would see me down there. I finished up had to walk the long way round to the staff room as she has the only key to get through the short way. Poured myself a cup of tea, had one sip and was told it was end of break and had to get back to the ward. I made a point of not pouring it away and washing it up, leaving a full cup on the sink, she asked if I was going to wash it up so I said I would come back and finish it at lunch and walked off. I think she gathered I was pissed off. She then spent the rest of the day either shunning me or involving me in their shit hen weekend coming up. I really can't take much more of this.

Well no one seems to have blogged about the weekend where I think we all had a great time, the darts banter was quality. I lost my voice completely the next day, which made communicating with patients rather tough, but I had that sexy Georgie Thompson quality to my voice which makes me very hot. Had another couple of incidents with a couple of the student nurses, very very strange.

United lost to Barca yesterday and as much as Utd supporters and some neutrals will slate anyone for having a go at Utd's achievements I am still going to enjoy the moment. Sometimes I don't think these fans understand what the rest of us go through. I was supporting Barca from the start as will surprise no one. Yes I am bitter Utd were there instead of us, no I shouldn't support the English team as I am an Arsenal fan first and foremost and and England fan next. All other clubs are irrelevant, and supporting a rival club that should they win that extra success would lead potentially to more success is stupid. I won't go into the match too much but it was nice to see Sylvinho and Thierry picking up the cup, both were loyal players for the Gunners in their respective spells with us. Sylvinho was sold due to us having Ashley Cole and Thierry asked to leave. Normally players who leave Arsenal for success fail, I can't think of one who has been successful since leaving. Arguably Vieira won a Serie A with Juve (rescinded due to match fixing) and a Serie A with Inter this year (he didn't play much) but who else has been more successful than they would have been at Arsenal. Congratulations Thierry a true Arsenal legend who deserves success wherever he goes.

Banter

Banter is the only word that can describe my fleeting visit home, not got time for a long post as I am absolutely shattered. I did not enjoy getting up at the ridiculous time I had to in order to get back up here for work at 12 but I did it, didn't fall asleep/crash the car and made it into work so all is good. How good were the last few days by the way! I'm sure plenty of blogging will be done about it by everyone shortly and I will as well as soon as I'm more sorted.

There were over 250 photos from Saturday and a lot from Monday so they will get up on facebook at somepoint but not all of them as that is a ludicrous amount of pictures to take, God knows how we found time to drink with all that snapping away!

Placement Day 1 (again)

1st day of my new placement (placement 6 of 7) and I’m on an acute neuro ward. Lot’s of Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Brian tumours, Spinal surgery, RTAs, Motor Neurone Disease and numerous other disgusting conditions and injuries you wouldn’t wish on anyone. I can’t say I was overly looking forward to it but I certainly wasn’t dreading it as much as I have with some of the others and I also have the plus points of coming back for a long weekend over my birthday and the summer to look forward to. Anyway I arrived this morning to find I am in a team of women (Physio is a profession that has been dominated by women, particularly in the NHS only recently beginning to change). Sometimes this can have its plus points, a gentle bit of flirting, sometimes even looked after as the only male on the staff but other times it can be bad, very bad. I fear this is going to be one of those times. Today my supervisor who I quite simply have nothing in common with at all made me follow her around like a puppy watching her do things ‘the right way’ soooo infuriating. At break she said, we don’t mix in with the other physios in the staff room we generally all come down to the neuro room to have a catch up as it’s better in here with less distractions and the tea and biscuits are free. Lovely I thought (as I do like my tea) except I will be missing out on one of the only times of my day I can escape them, talk to other people including other staff I actually get on with and students. The conversation topics in the 20 min break covered the following topics and I swear there was nothing else mentioned and I’m not making this up:
· This is everyone on the neuro team (meet Linda, Barbara, Shirley, Denise……..) 30seconds
· Dirty Dancing 6minutes
· Linda’s new blue dress with a big bow 5minutes
· Shirley’s hen do 6minutes
· Men suck 2 ½ minutes
In the men suck conversation topic they commented that the last male student they had with them used to get a paper and sit in the corner of the room on his own because he disliked the conversations. They then continued to slag him off saying how he never made an effort to integrate and they enjoyed giving him a poor mark.
So tonight along with research into polyneuropathies and my brain anatomy I shall also be reading Heat and OK cover to cover so as to ‘integrate’ tomorrow! Oh the joys of physio!

The Group

What better way to finish my 7 days blogging than photos of the whole group. Here are my top 10 group photos in no particular order. The only condition I set myself was that it had to have more than 4 people in the photo and it had to preferably be random.

Here we go!!


Alex & Daz's 21st - Look at the number of heads (admittedly some are slightly random) but just squeezing that much bent into one picture is quite impressive. Shame I couldn't be bothered to open my eyes for the picture though. Gary looks slightly more interested in grinding one of the girls but I'm sure it was Kieron who got his end away at the end of this night.
Liiiiiiverpooool - After Lawrence started slashing his wrists whilst chanting the echoey tune of Liverpool it soon caught on. A classic photo down the pit of Gran Canaria.

Summer BBQ 2004 - A huge summer of pre university bent, lots of Budweiser drinking, raping the tennis club and I think I speak on behalf of pretty much everyone when I say this was one of the best summer's ever. This included two BBQs at my gaffe where Carl went off his trolley and a huge amount of alcohol was consumed. Here is a brilliant photo where everyone seems to be having a lot of fun.

Tenerife 2006 - As far as randomness goes, this is a classic. There is so much going on in this photo there is a lot to take in, from boiling water being poured onto plastic plants to TV tuning and spanish sounding names on the back of everyone's shirts, good work guys.

Alex's 18th - I tried to find some old ones to squeeze into the blog and this is about as far back as my group shots go. Even Sarka managed to get into this one. Good facial expressions from Lawrence and Gary on the end make it an interesting photo, but have I shrunk since I was 18?

Bent - So good a photo that Chopper has it as his screensaver. Only J opted for a normal pose, while some absolutely mental expressions take the faces of all others. BENNNNNNTTT.

Ghetto - Back to Tenerife 2006 and we stumbled across the ghetto, some typical Tom posing was obvious but the gangster style poses make this a very random and slightly scary photo.

Gran Canaria 2007 - If I said the similar Tenerife photo was random this one beats it by a country mile. The task... to find the most stupid pose, I think we are all winners. Just sit back and enjoy this one boys!

Old Man Night 3 - On our third and final old man night at the last time any of us were to visit Destiny we were walking along the street discussing our next 'fancy dress' we came to a decision that a monkey night would be hilarious. Then as if by magic a fully grown monkey came up asking if we wanted to go into a club, or buy a banana or something.

The Jac - In possibly the nicest accommodation we have managed to get our hands onto, we even had our own Jacuzzi. So what better to do than all squeeze into it and gay it up. I seem to remember the talk that showing a picture of this to girls would increase pulling chances 'Come back to my Jacuzzi pretty girl' I think one sight of this would have sent them running even faster than they probably were already!

Well that is the 10 best group photos I have managed to find but couldn't end on that so I have squeezed one more photo in to typify Lowlands bent, the best turn out the club has seen in years and a feat that we all hope will be repeated ever so soon.

I hope you have all enjoyed looking back over the photos in the last 7 days and continue to come back and read the blog, even if it will be photoless for the foreseeable future. Get your blogs going again guys and don't forget to comment!

James Sparks

The final blogger yet to have his pictures up on this blog is the original twentysomething Mr J Sparks! Here is a great collection of photos which I hope you will all enjoy, a lot of these are quite old.

Oldest - This dates back all the way James' 18th where we took a trp to Destiny for the first time, that club doesn't even exist any more (does that make us old?). On route to Destiny we went into Chicagos and sang along to 'Summer of 69' whilst downing shots. I seem to remember this being quite a good night! Thank God I don't wear that huge tent of a jacket any more.

Random Face - What a collection of photos I had to choose from in this section, it took me a long time but this had to be the winner. Whilst starting early on NYE keeping a count of how many drinks we had necked J decided to squeeze his lips together, I'm not sure why but it is bloody funny. Great photo!

Lowlands - A great way to finish the week demonstrating complete and utter disregard for the club, what better to do than climb on the pool table in a surfing style pose. This was on my 18th birthday and en route to Sound nightclub (don't ever go there!!).

Women - I'm really really sorry mate, please don't hate me. There was only one photo that could go here and it had to be from Tenerife 1. I would have saved you from these girls mate but I think I was busy puking onto passers by from the balcony at the time. For anyone who hasn't seen this picture before don't judge James, he wasn't to see the 'Munters on tour' written on both of their tops.

Gay - Back to a picture J would be proud of and that is a gay one. Again there was a lot to choose from, but the facial expression and questionable hand positioning ended up making this the winner. Gary's leg is also at a very strange angle and nice facial expression Dazzy!

Thug - Could have probably chosen a more thuggish impression in our Granny C blue shirts, however, anyone thuggish enough to pull of a vest top and then pose mennancingly next to some stacked Arab deserves respect.

Dancing - Self professed wall flower saves his dance moves for special occassions. What better time than when there is free drink on tap in BCM? Not quite sure what initiated this random finger raising manouver but looks a lot of fun nevertheless.

1000 Words - Back to the first holiday in Tenerife where poor J had to go with a big bugger of a cast on his wrist. It didn't stop the girls flocking to his side. Here you can see Gary eagerly trying to get in on the act, but a mennacing face and stern hand stop sign clearly shows J wanted to be left alone with the three hotties. Captions please!

Random - Slightly more recently Daz and I had a joint 21st bash ending up in tiger tiger. Daz got a very special present that night as J, exposed his left nipple to him. J looks quite impressed, however Dazzy slightly less so.

Drunk / Alcoholic - There was only really one photo that could have ended this whole collection of photos and that was J utterly depressed at Christmas after a few heavy heavy drinking sessions. This is the sort of photo I think should be displayed on any alcholics anonymous parafanalia.

That is the end of the Dor's photo album but not quite the end of the blogging, tomorrow will be one final day of special photos to conclude the week of solid blogging. I hope you have all enjoyed looking back at these and let's get the camera out over the summer so this can be done in another 5 years! Don't forget to comment!!!!

Gareth Jones

Well the order has finally been chosen as Gareth came out the pot first today, leaving James' photos to be shown tomorrow. Unfortunately the disappointing I found when I came to complete Gareth's page was a distinct lack of pictures... whether this is Gareth hiding from the camera, or the fact that I seem to have taken most of the others from holidays I'm not sure but I have done my best with what I have, so hope you all still enjoy! Gary so far has encountered the most amount of comments, can this be changed today?


Oldest - Finding any old pictures was a bit of a nightmare, I'm sure I had one of Gareth and J playing tennis as littleuns but is nowhere to be seen now. So one of the earliest pictures shoots back to NYE 2004, a trip to Moons for daytime, also don't think Carl has featured in many photos so all bases covered.

Random Face - One of J's parties and I would query whether Gareth is slightly constipated in this photo?

Lowlands -Where has the photo of Gareth posing after death row gone? Please someone say you have it.. I have lost it so I have gone for a random phone photo, not quite a distinct disregard for the club, however, putting a bar mat on your head is not normal behaviour.

Women - Mr Gareth 'Casanova' Jones is a bit of a wonder with the ladies at times, a few choice pictures could have appeared on here from Gran Canaria however, this one purely as an artistically taken photograph wins. Great arse, great eyes, great man!

Gay - Possibly one of the gayest photos to appear on this blog to date. Why let someone pee when you can watch and see what is on offer. I think for me the hands on hips makes the shot! Good work Gareth.

Thug - Would anyone like to meet this yob on holiday? I for one would keep my distance. I think that due to Daz and Chops looking fairly normal emphasises what a yobish 'orrible lout Mr Jones is.

Dancing - One of my best finds for this section. Gareth and I busting a move in my garden at one of the two 2004 BBQs. This ended up with both of us breakdancing, I have a feeling this was to MC Hammer! It's with these types of moves that make Gareth the casanova we all know and love.

1000 Words - The look of absolute disdain in Gareth's face at Leah is there for everyone to see, you look truly disgusted Gareth. I did try finding a better one so my apologies if this photo is a bit lame. Captions please!!

Random - How brilliant is this photo? Another holiday snap where Gareth decided to make a friend in a tiny kids car. The evening progressed to everyone trashing the arcade and being frightened off by the staff!!

Drunk / Alcoholic - Maybe a better snap would have been a capture from the film of Gareth downing a pitcher of Guiness when he got through to the LDC darts final, however, I am choosing this photo due to the relaxed expression on Gareth's face as if being fed spirit by the bottle is an everyday occurrence. Good faces as well boys.

Today is the penultimate day of posts on the fellow bloggers, before a special final blog to complete the 7 day cycle of blog posts. Tune in again tomorrow for J's snapshots, they are some of the best yet! Keep commenting guys, it brings a smile to my face!

Gary Harrison

Firstly, I am sorry for the late blog, it has been a ridiculously busy day but will be back on track tomorrow. Today is the turn of Gary and happens to be one of my favourite collection of photos to date, mainly because the facial expressions, and randomness is fairly extreme. Let's get started.

Oldest - Who could ever forget this classic photo, not technically the oldest photo I have of Gary but it is a good one. This was taken on a random Wednesday night at the tennis club brilliant, other contenders were the professionally taken photo in Tenerife 1. We all look ridiculously young however Gary's arms make the shot.

Random Face - Over to Gran Canaria for the next one, and Gary with a young lady trying to supply him with alcohol, I am not quite sure why you are pulling this face but maybe it was the Sambuca. Is she attractive??

Lowlands - Feel a bit bad for putting this one up, but this followed a trip to the North East where Gary ended up texting the entire lyrics of Bon Jovi's 'Always' lyrics including 'I'll be there till the stars don't shine Till the heavens burst and The words don't rhyme And I know when I die, you'll be on my mind And I'll love you - Always'. His girlfriend at the time dumped him the next day. This is a sympathetic Alex consoling a distraught Gary.

Women - The hardest section for me to fill as there was sooooo much choice, could it have been Gary with random shot girls, Gary with random girlfriends, Gary with different holiday romances or even Gary with the troll like girl who he whipped his piece out to and tried ramming it in her face?? I have chosen this one for a few reasons. 1) Look at the club, where is everyone? Did they leave the dancefloor because of this going on or is the fact no one is there the reason they are getting up to mischief? 2) You can see the poor girls underwear. 3) She wasn't English.

Gay - Again a very hard section to fill. Numerous amounts of body parts being displayed could have been chosen, random cosying up in other guys beds or groping the guys, however the clear winner is NYE. It honestly looks like Gary and J have pulled. I believe tongues were touched and that mistletoe came in good use.

Thug - What else could a Millwall fan do other than destroy a Cardiff scumbag!

Dancing - Gary the best dancer of the group is shown here strutting his stuff in Magaluf 05, Gridley watches on wishing he could move as well as the master!

1000 Words - Could have soooo easily gone in the gay section however sneaks into the 1000 words section as I didn't want to miss it out. This was followed up by Gary having a dump whilst Chopper shaves (video can be found on facebook). Is this pooing in public some sort of fetish Gary? Captions please!!

Random - The boys came up north to play, and play they did. An excitable game of ear pulling started which it looks like Gary was losing. This ended up turning into a game of slapping people in the leg, spilt drinks soon followed!

Drunk/Alcoholic - Not sure you can quite see it from this pic but Gary is spewing, there could have been a lot of other pictures chosen but this is the only one I have on my PC of someone actually ill after alcohol abuse. This was taken over the bridge in Tenerife 1. This was followed by being sick in the apartment toilet which to me and J sounded as if Pavarotti was singing next to us due to the pure volume, tone and length of heaving!

Again apologies for lateness of this blog, with only J and Gareth remaining who will appear tomorrow. Check back soon guys, and thanks for the comments they make continuing this worthwhile. Welcome Chris!! A reader I didn't know I had!

Alex Porter

Well today my name came out the glass, this is the one I wasn't really looking forward to as it is hard finding pictures of yourself to put up. I tried again to find ones that were not too flattering (still think I am looking for a flattering picture come to think of it). Anyway far too many drunk photos to choose from so here we go. Enjoy



Oldest - Very difficult section for me to complete so thought I would just stick a very old picture up for you to have a giggle at. At least my dance moves have improved even if my clothing choice hasn't!

Random Face - Not sure what the hell I was thinking when this happened but it was back in 2005 in Magaluf, is it any wonder girls stayed well clear. Still have that t-shirt but not sure I have managed to retain the mental rabbit impression?!?

Lowlands - Again I wanted to find one from yesteryear but sticking to the theme of showing us tearing up Lowlands this was a perfect picture from just a few weeks ago. Wrestling has recently dominated events and this picture shows this perfectly...a vicious headlock where neither of us can bare to put our drinks down whilst fighting...BENNNNNTTER!!!

Women - I would like to say far too many to choose from but the collection was limited therefore we shall shoot to Destiny 2007 another classic Old Man Night. I was less than impressed with the talent on show!

Gay - Again unfortunately far too many to choose from so this rather cosy effort with Gary won, it shouldn't have won but it has. The photo of me in Gary's vest massaging an almost naked J was the obvious winner but I really couldn't bring myself to put it up, especially as it would not paint me in a good light should I continue in that profession!

Thug - Most of my best thuggish faces seem to be in big groups, this Gran Canaria effort by both J and myself was worthy of a display in this post. May many thuggish days continue.

Dancing - God knows what I was doing here. This is from one of J's classic parties, and I seem to remember being absolutely trolleyed. I'm pretty sure the crowds of people watching on including J's little sis and her friends will have been more than entertained by me throwing some shapes. I think the video from Gran Canaria of a certain arm swinging dance could have stolen this pics place though.

1000 Words - Welcome grumpy Alex to the blog. Magaluf 2005, free champagne and a highly strung Alex did not mix. Gary and J continued to pour champers over me onto my jeans continually whilst in the free drinks bar. Captions please!!!

Random - Random jumping was another classic at one of J's parties with Gareth's new fancy camera put to good use. There are some much better action shots, particularly of Daz and Gareth but for now this can be my random pic.

Drunk / Alcoholic - Again far too many to choose from, namely being asleep on various different holidays and in a bit of a state at J's house party however for this one I will shoot all the way back to the original Tenerife and to O'Neills. I was well and truly buttied. I ended up smashing all my drinks and being sent home by J and Gary in a taxi on my own when I couldn't walk. Note to self, avoid drinking half a bottle of duty free vodka prior to going out!