Saturday, 24 July 2010

Alex Hurricane Higgins RIP

Today the man that was probably the most influential in making Snooker the popular sport it is today sadly lost his fight with throat cancer.

Yeh sure he liked a drink, a smoke, was a rebel, hated athority but a genius that the masses loved.

The Peoples Champion

RIP Alex

Friday, 23 July 2010

Why Not

Following my recent vacation my luggage was startingto look a bit past its best (plus the wheels are sticking). So yesterday I bought a new trolley case and was just thinking to myself "Why not book another holiday".

So guess what I just did, ok its not while November and its to sunny Spain. Its actually to the Costa del sol staying somewhere near Malaga. And yes its another singles holiday with the same company I've just been to "Americas Golden West" with. This holiday is called "Treasures of Andulucia", looks really good is one of there more popular, in fact the date I chose was the only one remaining this year that wasn't fully booked but the chap on the phone told me there was only 4 places left.

Well we all need some winter sunshine don't we.

Sunday, 18 July 2010

Up a little again

As I mentioned a short time ago I've set myself some targets with my TT national rankings this season, my aim is to get in the top 100 in the over 40's and top 30 in the over 50's. Last time I reported I'd moved up very slightly to No146 (in the 40's) and I'm pleased to report another slight improvement as I'm now ranked 144, not a lot but the right direction. As for the 50's I'm still waiting for a initial ranking due to lack of events played.

However I played in a 40's ratings tournament at Hinckley on Saturday and can report a very good day. A ratings tournament is where you play a large group of 8 different players who are ranked close to you, so all the games are tough. The draw looked difficult because I was in section 3 and was rated to come 7th out of the 8 players in my group. Despite not training due to my holiday I was delighted to find some good form winnin 6 of my 7 matches and actually winning my section, could have made it a clean sheet as the match I lost was at deuce in the deciding set, I had a match point at one stage.

But the fact 5 of the players I beat were ranked above me (No's 106, 122, 127, 142 & 143) will gain me a lot of points so I'm expecting to jump 20 places+ on the next ranking list, a good days work I think.


On the subject of my last post about getting a date I've actually taken the plunge and asked one of my long time online friends for a meet up (as friends), she said yes . She seems nice and I'm looking forward to it, we've got on well online for sometime and given different circumstances I'm sure we would have met before now.
We live a distance apart (about 100 miles) but are going to meet half way for a day out together, not finalised actually when but it will be in the next 2 or 3 weeks I expect. Of course I've no pre-conceived ideas how it will turn out but at the least I should make a good friend.
Watch this space.

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Its time to move on

As those of you who read my blog know its one year since the love of my life Jane was taken seriously ill eventually passing away in mid August. Well since then my life as been in a bit of a rut just doing routine things and one thing I hadn't done was look at another woman, didn't feel the right thing to do.
Before I actually met Jane I had actually settled into the "singles" lifestyle but all that changed when we hooked up, I loved our time together and loved her so much.

Well I think my holiday is going to help me move forward, I spent a lot of time with one lady in particular we got on really well and talked about the possibility of meeting up again in the future. It was difficult because we were generally in a group situation and some people (one in particular) seemed to resent us spending time together.

For the record the lady concerned as contacted me and doesnt think its a good idea to meet at present because she isn't convinced I'm yet fully over Jane and doesn't want to be a substitute. I can understand what she said, it may be right although I'm convinced my feelings for her were genuine because I've never looked for a replacement and found her special in her own right. However I've got to respect her decision and move on, that is all I can do. Of course I'm dissapointed because I would have liked this lady in my life she made me feel good and I definately had strong feelings for her but I'm pleased she as been honest so I can say goodbye and move forward but still be friends.


Anyway onto the point of the post, this lady has made me realise I need to move on, I enjoy having female company again whether having meal, drink or just chatting. Funny thing is when I held Janes hand in hospital she told me I must move on but until now I've not been interested, just bottled things up.

So if the opportunity strikes for a date (and I'll be looking) I 'll be taking up the offer. Ok I'm not going to rush into anything but the odd dinner date to see if someone is compatable is probably the way forward, worst that can happen is make some goo friends. Not quite sure where a 52 year old looks, lol, but I don't fancy dating sites, maybe another singles holiday is a good idea (never know who you meet). There are a couple of my lady friends on MySpace that I seem to get on with and would love to meet, should have sorted somethingbefore now though. I'm thinking of making the effort to ask them out even if it means bit of travel for me but life is too short not to follow your instincts.

Saying all this I will never forget Jane she was important to me I'm a very loyal sort of person, but I believe I need to find somone else I can love for the person they are.

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Gentlemen prefer Blondes

Well I'm back from my tour of "Americas Golden West" and must admit it was a fantastic holiday. I'm totally shattered they kept us going all the time, late nights, early mornings plus a lot of travel have taken their toll. Also the weight loss targets have suffered a fair bit of damage with the amount of food and drink that found the way past my lips.

As those of you who are regular readers of my blog know it was a "Singles" holiday" and I was a little apprehensive about going. Shouldn't have worried made some fantastic friends on this trip. There was 18 of us on the tour 7 men and 11 ladies with ages ranging from 27 to 77 a real mixed bag of charactors.

Two ladies in particular stand out, spent a fair amount of time with them they were my type of people, I call them my Guardian Angels. Before you ask thats not either of them in the photo, thats someone called Marilyn Monroe who insisted on having her photo taken with me when some of us went to the Rat Pack show in Vegas.

Ok I'll admit it I found one of my friends a little bit special, in fact she knocked me off my feet. We've exchanged email addresses and I'm sort of hoping we meet again but only time will tell, we did discuss it but nothing definate.

Anyway no time to write much more as I'm off golfing shortly (need the exercise) but you are interested you can acess my photos here :-

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8308363@N02/sets/72157624338244517/detail/