Though I took some enormous risks in my early years as a farmer (thankfully most of them paid off) I'm not a betting man at all - one of the few who have never bought a lottery ticket. I did go to Chepstow Races once, where I worked with the late great Patrick Hannan in deciding what to back. We were both a bit new to it. Mrs D and I broke even that day. And last summer I spent a splendid day at the Trotting Races at Caersws, where I lost money. I was doing a 'spontaneous' interview for Dai Llanilar. And the whole family bet a pound or two on the National every year - which I've won on the nose a few times. Sundew, Bindaree and Party Politics come to mind. All in all, I'm probably ahead over my lifetime.
Anyway, Mrs D told me she'd put a bob or two on me to win Montgomeryshire in the General Election - so I've just been looking at the odds. Seems you can get 9/4 at Betfair365 and Paddy Power, but only 7/4 at Ladbrokes. If you want to bet on the Lib Dems holding the seat, don't go to Paddy Power, because you can only get 1/4. At Ladbrokes you can get 2/5. This surprises me a bit. We're talking about a 11.4% swing from the Lib Dems to the Conservatives here. That ought to be worth the Paddy Power odds. Only reason I can think of for this is that a few punters have gone for me at Ladbrokes. Someone told me that you can get 11/4 on me somewhere. Even though I'm cautious where money's concerned, I might just be tempted by that.
2 comments:
Glyn> like you I don't bet on horses or whatever at the betting shop. But I've probably passed through the doors of maybe 5 or 6 betting shops about a hundred times or so - was a part-time job that I fitted between a regular night shift at a local bakery (on Maesycoed Road). I would finish the night shift at 6AM and scuttle off home for a couple hours kip, have a cold shower to wake up and head off to whatever betting shop I was assigned too.
I can't remember if it was Corals or one of the other betting chains that hired me after I sat a simple arithmetic test at their offices at the bank of one of their betting shops (on Clare Road, Grangetown) which took me no more time than filling in the employment details form. I was hired on the spot - they sent me wherever they had a staffer off sick or were otherwise short-handed. I did the board at a 'Corals' on Whitchurch Road, paid out bets at their Clare Road branch, spent a week or so the betting office near Cardiff's Central Station, a few weeks on City Road, another that involved a hill climb on the western edge of Cardiff (I used to get around Cardiff on a push-bike). I was dog tired at the end of the day and managed to get a few hours sleep before starting the night shift at 10 PM (so I was probably working regular nights in “Dispatch” at Merrett’s bakery on Maesycoad Road, Cardiff - this place having a regular night shift of 10-6 or might have been 10PM-7AM – I often went into the Sales Office to watch the delivery bread van drivers pick up their paperwork and then go out to their assigned bread vans to check off their orders, if they were short I or someone else had to go out and check they were short and if so make up the missing order).
Getting to the point now, when I was working at the Whitchurch Road branch/betting shop where I was doing the board (would listen to the radio and write down the odds on the horses (sometimes dogs)), guys would sometimes come up to me (I can't recall a women ever placing a bet) and ask me for 'a tip'. I said I didn't have a clue, that all I was doing was listening to the radio for the odds and writing them down in fraction form, e.g., 1/5 against a specific horse (or dog).
This brings me to Lembit Opik - just because he seems to be in tune with the TV and a certain 'sports' magazine - don't ever make the mistake of thinking he actually knows what he's talking about.
I could have told the punter who wanted a tip to bet on such and such horse and bet big time. That way if the horse came in I could have gotten a good (cash) tip myself, but I was too honest.
Lembit e tells people that he's the good tip, that it's worth betting/voting on him when in fact all he's doing is fooling folks a lot of the time.
Luckily most folks know his game and won't bet/vote for him in the next race/election.
You’re my tip Glyn, odds-on-favourite. I don't have to listen to the radio to know that.
You're the people's choice for Montgomeryshire.
I got 2/1 on you! Put a few pounds on that.
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