“Lost £2.70 at cards. Nig came round in evening”
Most lunchtimes at college there was an distant outbuilding’s schoolroom which was turned into a small gambling den, controlled by one-time hardcore skinhead Robert S.
Every so often it would be discovered by the powers-that-be and closed down, Robert told to shape up or be expelled.
The dust would settle for a few weeks and then it would re-emerge somewhere else on school grounds, its existence known only to a select few.
I obviously tried my hands at something today in 1975 – poker? 21? no idea! – and came away from the experience badly, handing over a days wages … or worse, the cost of a whole new album in the process.
Perhaps it was this event which turned me into a lifelong ‘sensible gambler’… never betting more than I can afford. I believe in the simple adage that if you get lucky you should walk away from the table with your winnings instead of trying to reinvest them hoping for even bigger gains.
During one of my early USA visits to get acquainted with my now-wife I won $1000 at bingo. She wanted me to go every night for the next week saying I must be ‘on a roll’. To her dismay I never agreed… as far as I was concerned we were $990 up on the deal and it was bloomin’ well staying that way!
Excerpts from a 70's Teenage Rock Opera 