W.G. Grace Ate My Pedalo: A Curious Cricket Compendium

Take a contemporary cricketing personality, anecdote or issue; mix to absurdity with a generous measure of satire. Then reduce to stilted, formal Victorian English, and garnish with a pen-and-ink illustration.

Repeat 150 times and you'll have written a very unusual and most entertaining book!

4 / 5

Success over the Board

For the first time ever, I was placed 1-3 in an Open weekend tournament. My old mate Martin Simons took the cup on tiebreak.

This was the Dorset Individual championship at Bournemouth, and although there was a relatively small field, the average grade was still about 175.

I've looked over each of my glorious victories and only this one now seems worth sharing!

Chairman of the Mandarins

I was presented with this rather nice framed cartoon last night at the Mandarins Cricket Club AGM-party. It's the Chairman's badge-of-office, apparently, although it's the first time I've seen it!

Of course, if you've played for the Mandarins much in the last 7 or 8 years you'll realise that it's a somewhat poignant item to the club because of the person who presented it.

It will look great on my window-sill.

Bailey being Mr Charming

A Book of Silence

My review at Amazon.

A Major Update

There was a palbable sense of dismay amongst fillies of both species yesterday afternoon, as local "boss" and not-quite-a-gelding, Major, checked out of Tidmarsh paddocks for a 2-week trial at an Ascot charity. The novelty-seeking cobb loaded at the first time of asking, amazing those humans who've sweated blood to get him on board for previous trips.

Not everyone at Tidmarsh shared the dismay at his departure. As stable mate, "Big Bad" Bailey, pointed out:

"That cantankerous old Section C has been lauding it over the rest of us for long enough. It's about time someone else got first choice of hay-piles."

And referring to the power vaccuum that's opened up:

"Some of us are ready to take the step up to herd-leadership; that was never going to happen with him around. There's going to be some changes around here this autumn, believe me."

Major himself seemed delighted with his new accommodation, immediately wandering over to his new paddock mates to deliver a friendly nip on the crest. Horses and ponies from adjoining fields were whinnying in small groups when news spread ("look, look, it really is him!").

There's no official word yet on where the no-nonsense new arrival is expected to fit into the local heirarchy. Insiders have said "He'll need to take a driving test, like everyone else". Some experts point to his frequent indolence when asked to take part in structured activities of this sort; others point out that his surprising "enthusiasm" for new environments may shock those expecting an easy-paced ride.

Time will tell.

Are you an investor that bought the FTSE100 this week?

If you are, I'd like your help: just tell me why?

If you're a trader, well that's different. But if you're an investor, please tell me what is so attractive about a market that currently on a p/e of 17.3 (weighted by market cap.) or 14.4 (median).

Maybe if the prospects for future earnings were really good, that would be understandable; but analysts estimates of future earnings (yeah, I know, who trusts analysts; but what to do?) for next year for F100 companies show next year's earnings will be down 4.9% on this year's (Source: Sharescope).

So the market doesn't make sense to me; no surprise there then. Am I going to back my judgement by shorting the market on Monday? Nah, of course not.