The secret things you do that no-one else knows....

[Frt]

Every day that DP is out of the house at work, I buy an early-afternoon energy drink. They are rancid, sugary, unhealthy and downright common as muck but I absolutely love the buzz I get for the rest of the day. DP would be appalled with me if he found out 😅

My MN habit is a secret too. I don't have children, and I'm meant to have a professional, busy job which doesn't allow time for fucking about online. But here I am. I'm friends with a lot of women with young children who regularly talk about things being discussed on MN. I feign surprise or interest but I'm really thinking "Yeah, I saw that".

When I'm stressed and home alone, I talk to myself. I talk myself through what's getting me down, why, and what I need to do. I also reassure myself saying things like "Pull yourself together, it's fine, make a list and let's start at the top". I have no shame about this, I think its a perfectly normal thing to do. Except that I talk to myself in random accents. Today I went inexplicably scouse. My temporary foreign accent syndrome is the reason I keep this particularly activity a secret.

Tell me your secrets....

BTW, long-timer but NC just in case!

When you matched bet you effectively always bet with 2 accounts - a bet to win with the bookie and an opposing bet on a betting exchange.

So with the bookie you bet that X horse will win their race and with the exchange you lay the same horse (ie bet that it won’t win).

The bookie algorithms pick up matched betters because a MB always makes a bet where the odds difference between bookie and exchange is very close, to minimise losses. Bookies monitor exchanges very closely. Also if your account is always jumping on free bet offers and not much else you get flagged up quickly. That’s why some matched betters place “mug bets”, is regular bets that have no offers on them. You still lay them off at the exchange but as ever you make a small loss on the individual bet.

@Pssspsss you need photo ID to open an account so trying to open more than one account often fails. Plus, It isn’t as simple as backing the opposite outcome if the event involves more than one participant such as horse racing. Matched betting involves an equal and opposite wager with a back and a lay bet. You need both a traditional bookie such as coral and then an exchange such as smarkets to ensure you try and cover the outcome from the back and lay. It is quite a complex pastime, hence why I play 10p slots 😂

😂😂😂

Oh I thought you just bet on say “this team wins” on one website and then “that team wins” on another website 🤣🤣 this is why I don’t bet

That's not what matched betting is, you lay off bets on a betting exchange. The bookies can tell you're only taking value off them, you're not actually a real gambler.

There's websites out there that help, they have oddsmatchers and explain how to use the free bets etc. I use OddsMonkey but there's others, they have free tutorials too if you were interested! I've made over 2k since the World Cup in November so it's going towards my summer holiday once I cash it all out.

I have a big old chunter to myself in the car about everyone and everything that's pissing me off. Once I accidentally recorded it as a voice message and sent it to the family chat, I still don't know how but I was mortified.

@EarthFireAirWater @Purplebunnie I like Within Temptation as well

Oh, CS! 😂

I am currently secretly losing weight, 17 pounds down and still losing. I have regained something of my waist, and my chest is more prominent. Nobody else but me has noticed or cares. But then I am in my 50s and post menopausal, so I understand that I am not just a bit less visible now, but actually completely invisible. Oh, well.

UnctuousUnicorns · Today 10:13

I am currently secretly losing weight, 17 pounds down and still losing.

Well done, you! I could do with losing quite a bit more, I've almost stopped drinking, but a currently slipped disc is stopping me from walking much.

It doesn't matter what other people think, do or don't notice, it's making you feel better and that's what's important.

Yes, of course. Sometimes about things related to him - "You don't want to go out, the weather is terrible", or "I know, but I have to clean out your water fountain, and you'll like it with fresh water" - and sometimes general conversations about life the universe and everything. The latter is more likely when no-one else is around.

I don't think I have any secrets really. DH doesn't know how much I spent recently on an interest, but it didn't come out of savings and it's not deliberately a secret, I just thought just now that I'd not mentioned it - something else has come up that would cost more and we have talked about that. I have a diary I write in - it's just a notebook left out on my desk, but nobody has realised what it is.

I was thinking the other day that I'd like to just spend a bit of time in the otherworldly atmosphere of a big club again. The kid of place where people go to dance, not chat. I used to like Fabric in London, is that the sort of place you go? Do you go with other people, and are they older or younger?

I quite often pretend I'm in a movie when I'm driving, especially if a particularly emotional ( happy, sad, angry etc) song comes on the radio. I'll imagine I'm receiving good/bad news or whatever it might be depending on how the song makes me feel. I think I'm blowing the other actor out of the water and that I'll get an Oscar. Then I practice my acceptance speech 🤣

I agree about the soothing atmosphere of John Lewis! Crockery, haberdashery and sensible clothes 😀

Oh yes me too. It's where I go when life goes wonky. Little walk round JL's always sets me right

Daily prayer, at bedtime.

This is an adorable secret!

This is lovely 🥰

I'm jealous! I'm 55 and would still go clubbing if any of my friends would go with me. I miss having a good dance.

I sometimes create Sims and make them really unlikeable so I won't mind retiring them. I get too attached to the cute ones. 😂

I seem to remember the original Sims (which I played for years) had a hamster with a deadly bite, which you could only offset by hanging a certain painting in the house. That took me by surprise when I first encountered it! I also remember my Sims playing rock/paper/scissors with the Grim Reaper. 😂

That's normal isn't it?? Not necessarily the phone part but the "air drying"??

Ahh okay so in my head it was for example the carabao cup final you place one bet Man U to win and another bet Newcastle United to win and you work it out so that whichever outcome you win. But just had a quick read up and that only works for a game where there is a 50:50 outcome. Doesn’t work for games where a draw can happen. So I’ve just now learnt what the backing bet is (ie England to win on a regular bookie) and the lay off (England will not win) at an exchange

this is why I still don’t bet 🤣

They do! The youngest is a slightly moany teenager, I’m “granny”, ds is “daddy”, and he has me wrapped around his little finger! (Claw?) I even get moaned at for being an overindulgent grandparent. Then there is the old lady, who usually needs to apologise for something (like missing the litter tray..) Dearly departed cat was a sassy black woman, channeling her inner Whoopi Goldberg in sister act, despite being a slightly chubby tabby!

@CatnaryReturns and @bringincrazyback It’s a local group of people from mainly my town. Loads of us, so there’s always a friendly face to catch a train with. Huge WhatsApp group.

Printworks, MoSound. Loads going on locally and further afield. And often starting at lunchtime and finishing before last train home. We try and travel together and look out for each other. Ages from mid 30s to mid 60s.

@UnctuousUnicorns
How have you done it, and how has nobody noticed? I'm assuming you don't live alone.

I've never understood Matched Betting, only straight forward horse betting and each way.