View from the Boundary

Sometimes I'm thinking 'bout the weather then I realize I'm wasting my time. And it would seem that the poet never spoke a truer word.
It was reported on various news programmes a few weeks ago that meteorologists had convened to decide why they thought we were having such a series of cloudy, cool summers. The conclusion was that whatever the reason might be, it was going to continue for ten more years and that was alright by me. And then the next day was clear and sunny and it's been getting warmer ever since. So, so much for experts, and hard luck for me who now looks forward to September, those few glorious weeks that fade towards Autumn with a dash of refreshing cool in the air. For now it is a strategic game to walk in the shadows wherever possible and prevent your gin and tonic from warming up.

But, of course, there is good news. Prof. Eagleton has a new book out and it was ordered without any delay once I knew. Across The Pond promises an Englishman's view of the United States, although not perhaps the stereotypical bowler hatted Englishman on the cover. A droll, slightly contrarian and iconoclastic one with a background as the leading Marxist Literary Theorist who, one must anticipate, isn't likely to be a great admirer of the USA. It should be good fun.

In the meantime, the campaign to set a new personal best rating at the Free Internet Chess Server goes on. I need to go beyond 1417, which puts me about 46% of the way down the 20-odd thousand registerd players, at which point I'll spend a few weeks, I hope, enjoying a status that is far beyond my actual ability and play only unrated games. I keep reaching 1380 or so after a run of wins and then slip back. I know how Sisyphus felt. But it will happen one day. Maintaining a rating in the mid 1300's means that the graph of my progress over the last five years remains on the upgrade. Over 10 thousand games in 5 years. That is a bit unsettling but nowhere near as mind boggling as that it represents that many games that were all different and yet the vast majority were generated by the very limited range of my opening repertoire which is nearly always a Queen's Gambit with white and something Sicilian with black. Garry Kasparov did say there were more possible chess positions than there are grains of sand on the earth/stars in the universe, etc. That comes as some surprise with the finite resources of 64 squares and 32 pieces but multiplication is a wonderful thing.
Even three such certainties as Serena Williams winning Wimbledon, Chris Froome winning the Tour de France and England winning the Ashes series would have multiplied up to a very fair return on twenty-five quid. But Serena somehow managed to blow it.
The problem was that the treble was my way of not having to lay out too much to win the same amount on Froome at 4/6. Just put him with two other certs and it limits the risk. But, as Froome dominates the Tour as impressively as anybody has for many years, the bet has already gone down.

There's no such thing as a certainty. Oh, now they tell me.