NIGERIANS, NAGS AND NEW WAYS TO LOSE MONEY

At the risk of turning the blog into a rant I will update you on another one of my misfortunes, although this one doesn't really have me smiling in retrospect like my various immigration infringements do.

So, to take it back to Shanghai briefly, I went out on a bit of a big one (as you do) with all items in their correct places in my pocket, until I notice that my phone was missing - cue me being annoyed and generally poor company for a while whilst I mope about the loss of such a recent and expensive purchase.

Tried calling it several times and after leaving it ringing it was then turned off later. Some lucky boy or girl has a new toy to cash in to the value one months wages. Nice.
So, up the next morning I get out of the apartment and head straight out to get another one. On programming all the usual junk I keep on my phone into the new one (umpa lumpa ringtone and other such mature things) I notice my old phone staring at me from underneath a pile of well placed clothes on the floor.

After wondering how the hell the phone got there and all that stuff, I was pleased to see it again and promptly told what an idiot (or harsher words to that effect) I am for not actually losing it. It's still a mystery how it got back there, but instead I settled on trying to sell the new handset on ebay, given the fact that 'refund' probably means the same thing in Chinese as 'unicorn', 'a quick beer' or other such things that clearly don't exist.

After several frustrating attempts to sell the thing on ebay, from countless timewasters using the question facility to try and sell me something to the team of Nigerians constantly trying to buy it and have it shipped over to Nigeria as a gift.

After all of this messing about, the subject is familiar to me but those who don';t know what I mean just google 'ebay Nigeria scam' and you can read about thousands of people fleeced by these halfwits.

Why do these people always pick Nigeria to ship these items to? Is ebay scammer the hot job right now over there??

On a more positive note, I have also found another item to add to my list of significant (to me only) discoveries. Pub Poker.

After nearly a year of corrupting as many people as possible with the game, and perhaps taking the odd financial benefit in terms of poker winnings in the process, it mostly came to a grinding halt in Australia.

A few pubs on my alcohol filled wanders around the city advertised the odd game here or there, although the pubs offering such events reminded me of the home pub of one of my old football teams...the sort of charming venue where toothless women in tracksuits shout obscenities at the fruit machine and merely standing next to someone at the bar prompts a tale from their life story....to which I can relate to none of, having never been 'put away' or in a 'bit of a bother'.

So, fearing one of these conversations I steered clear for now, until the actual discover of the National Poker League! This is at www.npl.com.au for those who really want to see what I'm talking about, although basically it's just an organised league (clue is in the name) around various pubs in Aus, of which many are in Sydney, and a handful within walking distance of my house! Awesome.

So after, my first rather nervous outing , and a disappointing 14th place, I have made it to the final table at my following 2 attempts, albeit getting cracked by what's known in the trade as 'spawny gits'.

Bad beat stories will not get published at this time as I've ranted enough I think. I will update you on any significant progress, although will keep the poker subject to a minimum as I usually bore everyone with to tears with my findings on everything to do with the game.
So onto gambling of another sort then. Not getting into bed without checking for spiders or any real gambling - just the horses. The racing variety I mean of course, not that any would fit under my bed without having first to evict the shoe collection!

One of the more obvious traits of Australian culture is the love for all things gambling, whether it's the betting offices (called TABS 's whatever that means) or the high stakes fruit machines called 'pokeys' there are literally a million methods for me to illustrate my abysmal luck in new and exciting ways.

The horses is an obvious choice as it means I get to throw sunshine and alcohol into the mix with the gambling, so last weekend was my second trip to the races, located about 3kms from my place. Excellent.

So, awesome weather, better beer and shocking luck all combined as predicted into another good day out, culminating in a trip to the harbour to enjoy more of the former 2. It's always a very long day out when the races Start at 12.00, as does the drinking, making Sunday an equally very short day!

There's something not quite right about being in a bar with other race goers and thinking to yourself that you should really move on from the bar as it will be closing soon and onto a club - only to glance at your watch and realise it's not even 7pm yet! Oh dear.

Anyway, pics are form the day before it all got a bit massive and all sense of time became sketchy at best.