The silly season continues. But more of that later.
I have been on a family holiday to Northumberland, or the thinking person’s Cornwall as I like to call it. Most of it was spent under blue skies, although we did cop for a torrential downpour - thankfully we were under cover - when we ventured inland to Hay Farm Heavy Horse Centre, a horse sanctuary in the foothills of the Cheviots. During our visit my youngest daughter, who is severely autistic, received a shock from an electrified fence which was fairly instant karma for her emptying a bowl of Coco Pops over the kitchen floor of the cottage we were renting. No lasting harm was done to either her or the kitchen floor. If you are ever in Northumberland and like heavy horses or artery-bursting afternoon teas Hay Farm is well worth the visit.
We were based at Seahouses, a large fishing village popular with tourists in the know like me and the unlikely home of racehorse trainer Adam Nicol, who had a runner in this year’s Ascot Gold Cup (Wise Eagle, last). On a late afternoon dog walk - Northumberland is very dog friendly - I passed Nicol’s yard and if I were a racehorse I would be elated to be turned out in the fields there. Unfortunately there was no-one around to tap up for information but if there had been their likely tip would have been Trailblazer 9/1 which ran second at Musselburgh on the Tuesday of our stay.
Once a year I have a perfect five minutes (not that) in which the stars align and I am able to fleetingly set aside my mental travails and lose myself in the tranquillity of my surroundings. This year it was on a twilight dog walk when I stood on the cliff edge between Seahouses and St Aidan’s beach looking down on the retreating North Sea and the Farne Island lighthouses coruscating (get me) in the distance. Last year I was not so lucky. We had headed to Scarborough for an unplanned couple of days in the sun as the coastal temperature was forecast to be kinder than in Nottinghamshire where the grass was starting to smoulder (not the case this summer). Scarborough is a town of two halves, with the busy South Bay a slightly more upmarket Skegness (or slightly more downmarket Whitby, take your pick) and the North Bay its less commercial alternative with the nicer of the two beaches. On the last morning of our break, my wife took the girls off for a final paddle in the sea and I was left alone with my feet buried in the North Bay sand. This was it - the arrival of my perfect five minutes! To my left the mother of the family next to us on the beach started to scream.
“Jaden! Stop kicking sand around!”
To which the child who had been kicking sand around dolefully replied, “Mum, I’m not Jaden, why do you always get my name wrong?”
To which his Mother replied “Sorry, mate” suggesting she still had no clue who he was.
In my first blog I tipped Notts and they lost 5-1 away at Sutton United. Since then they are unbeaten having drawn one and won four to sit top of League Two. Sutton meanwhile have lost five on the bounce. If the teams were to meet now Notts would be the 5-1 winners. August truly is the silly season for football betting, but that didn’t stop me recommending four "hypothetical" £20 doubles at a total “hypothetical” stake of £80. Of these, one double won (Bolton Wanderers 0-3 and Newcastle United 5-1) returning £68.25 for an overall loss of £11.75 on the month. Under the circumstances I am quite encouraged by this, nay emboldened, although I fear September may be equally as tricky.
This weekend international football dominates and England (2/5) should be too strong for Ukraine in their Euro 2024 qualifier which kicks off at five pm on Saturday. Although it is an away fixture for England - being played in Poland for obvious reasons - it would still be a shock for the 2020 finalists if they were unable to secure all three qualifying points. There obviously isn’t much value in backing England on their own, but combined in a win double with Wrexham (1/2), who kick off earlier at the traditional time of three pm, my “hypothetical” stake of £20 returns £42 at combined odds of 11/10 for a double-your-money profit of £22 (plus the bonus of putting this blog back in the black). Wrexham are at home to Doncaster who are rock bottom of the English Football League having secured only two points from a possible eighteen, whereas their hosts will be looking to push on following last week’s hard-fought win at Tranmere. All prices quoted correct at the time of writing with Sky Bet. If Sky Bet would like to sponsor this blog - I mention them enough - please get in touch. We can but dream.
I hope to see you next week.
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