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| Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash |
That’s the last time I listen to George Benson. But more of that later.
I mostly work from home now. Before COVID this would have been unthinkable, but within four weeks of the first lockdown being announced in March 2020 I was working off the dining room table. After thirty-five years spent in an office environment this was a sudden but surprisingly pleasant change and the start of what turned out to be quite a cosy pandemic for yours truly. I am one of the lucky ones who have yet to see two red lines appear on a COVID test, even when at one point I was living in a house where my wife and two daughters all had it and I was unable to isolate from them due to severe autism (not mine) which is no respecter of personal space. There are some people, mostly Daily Hatred readers, that assume working from home is a licence to skive but this is not my experience of it and a view largely born out of jealousy and political ideology. I have seldom worked harder. There are less distractions and I can concentrate on complex matters largely without interruption. As for doing my bit to resuscitate the local economy, all of the independent coffee shops I frequented prior to COVID were long dead before the country finally reopened (R.I.P. The Picnic Basket). With public transport not being a realistic option for me, another tick in the home working box is that I am no longer driving in and out of the city which has to be better for the environment at a time when a lot of the world appears to be on fire (not to mention spending less on petrol now that the cost of living has boarded a rocket and is halfway to Mars). I do however work out of the office at least once a week, and on Monday I arrived in Nottingham at about 6.30 a.m. and as I left the Broadmarsh car park it felt like I fleetingly had the city to myself. Back in March I was less lucky and was confronted by two down and outs - a man and a woman - who were huddled together on a nearby bench. As I walked by the woman complained that she was cold and in response the man let one go which sounded ten times as loud in the tranquil calm of early morning. “That’ll keep you warm,” he boasted, I suspect as much for my benefit as that of his lucky lady friend.
Last week I tipped Bolton Wanderers to beat Wigan Athletic at home in the League One lunchtime derby. I was expecting the match to be a close affair but this was not the case and in the first half Bolton enjoyed seventy percent of the possession with ten attempts on goal compared to Wigan’s eight. Bolton ended the game with sixty-three percent of the possession and twenty attempts on goal. The score? 0-4 to Wigan. My other selection was Peterborough United and it appears a town can beat a city with Northampton winning 1-0. I did say back in my blog for Saturday 12 August that it is madness to bet on football until at least October, but with horse racing in rapid decline there is currently little alternative for the sapient sporting speculator.
American singer and songwriter Barry Manilow has got in touch. He had thrown away ten dollars on last Saturday’s double and wanted to help me get back to winning ways. Barry told me that I’ve “Been livin’ with nothing to show for it” and advised “You get what you get when you go for it.” With that in mind, I am “Ready to take a chance again” on Notts County (3/5) and Bolton Wanderers (1/1).
Since we last considered Notts, they have risen to ninth in League Two with two wins on the board. On Saturday they are at home to Tranmere Rovers who sit ten places below them. In recent times Meadow Lane has been a fortress for Notts and Tranmere’s away form suggests they don’t have a siege tower big enough. Bolton are probably still in shock from last week’s defeat - I know I am - but although they are away from home their opponents are Burton Albion who are bottom of League One without a win in four matches. After last week Bolton couldn’t have wished for an easier game. At the time of writing my “hypothetical” £20 double on Notts and Bolton returns £64 with Sky Bet at combined odds of 11/5 for a profit of £44. You never know.
I, Punter will return in September.
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