Tales of the Unexpected

Totally random. Totally unexpected. My throw still isn't up to par but, somehow, this 180 sneaked in inbetween running around getting stuff ready for a weekday morning.

It doesn't point to a general uptick, but a 180 is a 180 and I will accept it graciously.

53/50

Does my darts look big in this?

My first - and probably my last - 180 with 28 gram Datadart Butt Brass darts. 

I actually threw for a couple of 180s with these darts earlier today. No luck then, and, then, 1 minute to midnight and the three chunk monsters land in the red lipstick. (Quit the tabloid speak.)

I only picked them up because my darts are shocking at the moment. I needed a fat barrelled dart just to have the motivation to throw. Anyway, enough about my woes. Cue photographic evidence.

52/50

181 - 180 = BUST

Yes, I meant it . . . and, no, I'm not apologising. 

It's a game against a bot, for fucks sake. What, will Russ Bray judge me from inside my phone? I can live with that. I'm not playing well right now. I can't put my figure on what's happening. Of course, Dartitis is always hovering in the background but it's not just that. Something else is going on. So, when the occasion arose to hit a 180 . . . a 180 which would bust my 501 game? I went for it.

51/50

Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

 

#GettingOldGoingDownhill

The good news is that I just hit my 50th 180 of 2026.

The bad news is that this time last year I'd hit 117.

I think I only hit this one 'cos I didn't realise I was throwing for one. There's something to be said for darkened rooms on a weekday morning.

50/50

False witness

False witness? False dawn? False representation? Who the hell knows.

All I do know is that once the actual league match started, I put in my worst performance of the season. Totally blown away. No excuses. Okay, the dartitis played a part a couple of times during the course of the night but I should be used to that by now. That's not the reason why I played so bad. 

A strange (long) night all round. You'll need to wait for the biopic for more details. It'll be in there somewhere . . . if only for some light relief.

Back to the drawing board.

49/50

12 Angry Men (1957)

 

'That scar on your face.'

Posted April 27th, early morning.

Need to sleep. Currently listening to 'Cowboys and Angels' by George Michael. Beautiful song. One of his best. No excuse for staying up this late.

48/50

"I’m an outdoor man. I come from Clydebank."

Posted April 27th, early morning.

Currently rewatching the first season of Minder. For reasons I can fully explain, I have a slight obsession with the show's creator, Leon Griffiths. Maybe it's because his parents named him after Trotsky? That really intrigues me. I wish I knew more about his life.

Anyway, the post title is a line from the third episode of season one. From the lips of a stereotypically chippy and alcoholic short-arsed Scotsman. I'm here for that. 

47/50

Breakfast Time

Posting Wednesday afternoon (22nd April).

Bear with me on this one. It's a bit of a ramble. And there's a pic of a 180 at the end.

I'm coming to Dominic Sandbrook late in the day. I don't know why. I've been aware of him and his popularity as a Celebrity Historian for years now. Maybe I've unfairly misjudged him because of the newspapers he usually writes for; maybe it's because I read Alwyn Turner's accounts of the 1960s/70s and 80s, and there's only so much British social history you can digest. Anyway, I've done him a disservice and I only discovered that via his new The Book Club podcast with Tabitha Syrett. I was aware of the podcast, but never checked it out and then it popped up on Spotify where it started playing automatically after another podcast finished. They were discussing Sally Rooney's Normal People, and it was engaging enough that I went looking for other Dominic Sandbrook related podcasts on spotify. What I found was a Dominic Sandbrook 80s playlist, which wasn't compiled by him but was put together by someone else in connection with either a book of Sandbrook's or a TV series.

In amongst a rather fine selection of 80s pop classic was this deep cut from Orange Juice, from their Rip It Up album. Though I had the album on cassette back in the day, this song passed me by. Mr Sandbrook rectified that. Many thanks.

46/50