SIMON NOTT BLOG: Tumble Dryer

Not blowing my own trumpet, but I’m very conscientious when it comes to work, I love what I do and consider myself very lucky to get paid to do it.

I’m very proud of what we have achieved and continue to achieve with the #BettingPeople series. I’m my own boss too which is a by choice, imperative given my nature. However, I do have a problem that I’m guessing most people in my enviable position don’t envy. My brain is often like a tumble dryer that doesn’t switch off, my unconscious just won’t leave it out. If I have something to do, especially writing questions, when I go to sleep the spin cycle kicks into gear. I toss and turn and dream about them, for what seems all night, I sleep but get no rest. The plus side of this turbulent nocturnal brain tussle is that I usually get up and rattle down my side of the interview in no time.

This isn’t a new thing for me, when I worked with Turf TV, before a big meeting I’d dream that they were going down to the start and I couldn’t find the phone to call the first show in. Before a big meeting in my previous career working for bookies on course I’d dream I was asked to bet one back in the ring for whatever firm I was working for and I’d forget the name of the horse and daft stuff like that.

When I used to write betting ring reports to the Racing Post Weekender with tight deadlines, I’d often doubt being able to do it. The issue I have, is I sometimes get a metaphorical dark cloud descend, it feels physical like my brain and inspiration has been cloaked. Sit in front of the computer and try as I might I just can’t get motivated. Sometimes, the gloom just vanishes in a puff, either for no explicable reason, or pricked by some unexpected good news or external snippet which results in inspiration. Back to the Weekender, I was a single man before I struck gold with my beautiful family, I’d dream about it all night, awaken at 4am, get up and type out 2000 words hardly having to think. I’d go back to bed and a couple hours of restful sleep then just need to proofread before submitting my copy, Fleur Cushman the editor at the time, no idea how close it came to not being submitted at all.

Over the last five years, during the three of them employed, there has been no such luxury of not being able to function. I had work to do and had to do it. My office at home is pretty small and due to my vinyl and CD-buying addiction also a little claustrophobic. To try and fend off the gloom I’d have a little pot of St John’s Wort at hand and batter my way through.

As I said whilst setting up the premise, I’m very proud of the #BettingPeople series and have been so privileged to meet some wonderful characters. It’s funny, some people I meet, despite them being hitherto total strangers I get find myself feeling instantly at ease with them and we often strike up conversations as I’m packing my interview kit away. I mentioned my office and St John’s Wort remedy to one of them. I’m not sure how it came up in conversation, but it did. By the time I’d gotten to Paddington to start my journey home he’d taken the time to send me several messages, concerned that I should be resorting to herbal remedies and offered alternatives. Plenty of outdoors and exercise, even if it’s quick stepping up the stairs, were two of them. I was touched that he’d thought about it and cared enough to help me.

His advice has helped, I try and walk the four-mile ‘triangle’ on the outskirts of the village every day I’m not on the road. If time permits I also walk to London destinations within town for interviews rather than use the Tube. I have felt a lot better since his advice and Holland And Barratt have lost a customer.

It was on one of those walks that I listened to a random podcast about mental health and wellbeing. To abridge it, they just put forward the idea that people should accept that they are going to die one day the same as they do when they were born. Once they have come to terms with those two certainties, they’ll also appreciate that the slither of light which is life is all you get between two eternal voids. With that in mind you’ll grasp what you have with both hands and live your life to the full. Inspiration indeed for a man with a very lucky life but a brain like a tumble dryer.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a man whom I used to look up to in the betting rings of my youth. He was one of those characters that everyone knew of and the bookies feared. He’s not been active on a racecourse for over a decade as he’s had a bad losing run of ill health. When we talked of the betting rings gone by and his life, he did so from his bed but with such fondness and a twinkle in his eye. It must have been a huge blow to him, not being able to go racing, but he was just happy he’d lived how he had, he told me that he continued to bet and still enjoyed his life. There wasn’t a hint of self-pity and certainly no regrets on the full life he lived and absolutely loved on course from the time he was 18.

As he waved me a cheery goodbye, I felt rather guilty that I ever felt down, gloomy or uninspired with life as lucky as mine. He’s definitely inspired me and will think of his smiling face the next time that cloud descends on me. Sadly, it’s a 1.01 chance that it still will, but hey they get beaten at those odds most days don’t they, let’s look on the bright side.

SIMON NOTT

Views of authors do not necessarily represent views of Star Sports Bookmakers.

Simon Nott is author of: Skint Mob! Tales from the Betting Ring
available on Kindle CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS