I’m betting very little at the moment – most days I don’t look at the card, and when I do I don’t have any great inspiration. My life is busier than ever – lots of business interests, a busy family life, a major development rolling along at my farm, everything bubbling away at Manor House, all my horse interests and Swindon performing well. It’s certainly not boring.
The biggest problem I have at the moment is cash. Everything needs financing and I don’t have anything coming in – I’ve got some great shareholdings in all sorts of private companies but the markets are still bad and I can’t get any money out. Swindon has been great but it’s also been expensive – the economics of football really aren’t there unless you are a player or an agent. A lot of the companies I’m involved with have come back for more as they can’t get money anywhere else. I’ve loaned money to mates who are in trouble. It’s been one way traffic for a long time now.
My other problem is fatigue. I have a heart condition and I’m on beta blockers – they’ve sorted my heart out but fatigue is a side effect and I’m tired all the time. I’m having three kips a day if I can find the time – if I can’t I end up walking around like a zombie. I need to sort it out. I’m hoping that if I lose a lot of weight I might be able to come off the beta blockers – the combination of the two should give me a lot more energy.
I’ve signed up to climb Kilimanjaro early next year with a group including Nigel Payne, former CEO of Sportingbet. Nigel is a non-exec director now – I’ve only got to know him recently. He was until recently chairman of GameAccount (www.gameaccount.com) – the CEO is a former marketing director at Betfair and I own 19%. He is chairman of www.golfbidder.com – I’m on the board and own around 30%. He is a non-exec at www.bettorlogic.com – I am chairman and own it outright. He is on the board at Manor House Stables as well.
I’m hoping that the Kilimanjaro climb will be a catalyst for me to sort out my energy levels – it’s good to have something to aim at.
I played poker on Monday night with various members of the Betfair legal team. On the second hand of the night I was dealt a pair of Aces. A good pot built up and I went all in on the turn – I was called by Martin Cruddace, the head of legal, on my right. He had Kings – not great for him until a king came in on the river. It was a nasty bad beat but sometimes it’s good to get them out of the way early – I had an outrageous night and headed home with my pockets bulging with notes. If any of the legal boys are looking in I want you all to know how much I’m enjoying spending your hard earned – better luck next time…
As I’ve been sitting writing my blog Robbie has wandered in from outside soaked to the skin. I shouted at him not to come up the stairs, but he ignored me and rushed up to my side – he then did the wet dog shake thing, and I doubt there are many dogs out there who do the doggy shake like Robbie does it. I am completely soaked, along with my keyboard, screen etc.
On Sunday Robbie got in to the kitchen and scoffed a load of cakes that were on the centre island. I was annoyed I let him in, but I got a good photo on my phone;
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