Gimme a brake ( pad!)

Last night ended up being a bit busy.I had two new tyres fitted after work and was hoping not to have to drive anywhere before my car gets her first MOT today because the brake pads have worn away and there's a horrible loud grinding sound when I try and slow down.If it's damaged the brake disc that's a far more expensive repair.

I wrote that earlier and what a feckin' day of it I had with Arnold Clark Ford garage in Rutherglen.They called me around lunchtime to say it had failed the MOT ( annual check to make sure a car is road worth beginning once car reaches 3 years old) due to the brakes.Errr what? I told them the brakes needed fixed but no they go ahead and test the car anyway,tell me they can't get the new brake disc/pads until Monday and if I take it elsewhere they would charge me for another MOT!

On top of that they tried to stiff my on the price too,adding £60 on to the original total.One short meeting with the manager sorted things, but I still had to go elsewhere for the disc/pads and will now have to go back next week for MOT to be done again.Grrrr!

Anyway,I'd just settled down to watch the football last night when the ex called to ask if I could take Nacho as she was having more problems with her neighbour and was staying elsewhere last night.I couldn't leave my boy and drove very slowly and carefully to pick him up,missing two Spanish goals in the process!It should be a cracking final on Sunday between my two tips to win the competition.

I also watched a bit of Andy Murrays fine straight sets win at Wimbledon and hopefully he will go on a decent run to at least the semi-finals.I'm not a huge tennis fan although I usually watch Wimbledon.The Borg v McEnroe final way back in '81 got me interested in the game and I recall hitting a ball against the back wall of our house pretending I was one player and then the other.I love the scoring system they use and the great test of character the game provides.

Not much else going on.At work my new seat is surrounded by women and instead of discussing football transfer speculation and the Euro championships ,I've been bored rigid by talk of star signs,hair straighteners and handbags.Zzzzzz!

I eventually fired up a couple of $16's on Stars around 11pm and after shoving 77 into 1010 to finish 7th in one game,I managed 3rd in the other one.I would probably have made 2nd place if I hadn't got frisky when I flopped two pair against the bigstack who had flopped a better two pair.Considering there was a very shortstack in 3rd place my shove was rash, although if I had won that hand I would have had a huge chiplead over both villains.

Ok,don't forget to register for the Euroblogger and Britbloggerment games....

Wed Update

Big thanks to Rosie and Juice for their comments on yesterdays post.I think I have been looking to find someone ( me!) or something to blame for my split with the ex Mrs A.Rosies assertion that the ex and I simply like to spend our spare time differently and have grown apart seems to be spot on.Hey, maybe I'm not a total c*nt afterall!

On the poker front I played a couple of $16 turbo,18 player games and after coming nowhere in the first one I managed to grind my way to a 3rd place finish in the next one.I came across another situation I hate in these turbo games and that is picking up AJ sooted in early position just a few hands into the game.I usually raise 5bb preflop early on and I was almost happy someone reraised me and I could throw my AJ into the virtual muck.What a crappy hand!

I did win a buy-in at Bet365 at a $50 nl table.I'd watched a player lose his stack just before I joined the table and my instinct was that he was on tilt.My first hand was 1010 and this player had bet 7bb preflop before the action was on me.I reckoned my tens were good and pushed all in,he called,I hit a ten on the flop and I won the pot without seeing his cards.

This was all watched by the rest of the table and according the Bet 365 lobby it was also watched by five railbirds.Now I've railed the high stakes games on Full Tilt and enjoyed watching huge pots slide across the virtual felt, but I can't understand the appeal of spending time watching $50nl!

Righty ,here's a wee funny from the paper before I go...


Scots businessman Neil Gibson is wondering how strong his accent is after a trip to Oklahoma where he picked up a hire car from Hertz. The nice lady behind the counter asked if he would like satellite navigation in the car.

After he agreed that it would be a good idea, she helpfully told him that he could set it to his own language, too.