It was the Scraggies Christmas “do” last weekend – we always have our Christmas meal, or whatever we choose to do, in January – the food is better (the venue won’t be working at full capacity), January needs cheering up, and in any case most of us have a few pre-Christmas Christmas dinners already.
We decided to book the upstairs venue room at the Stoney Stanton pub where we meet each month, and have a casino-themed evening – appropriate dress was encouraged. A friend from work offered to lend me a bow tie, and insisted that I borrow his tuxedo as well. I somewhat reluctantly accepted his offer, but lost my nerve at the last minute, just before leaving home. I could not bring myself to walk through a village pub on a Friday night in a tuxedo and bow tie. A bow tie, white shirt and jacket would have to do. I needn’t have worried – we travelled with neighbours and friends Chris and Richard, and Richard wore a tuxedo. The bar staff were impressed with our dress anyway, customers in the busy pub barely noticed, and those that did presumed that we were a wedding party!
We were served an excellent buffet starter, followed in most cases by fish and chips (well, it was Friday, and one must not take the casino theme too far…), and then the gambling started.
The pub provided a DVD of horse races for betting purposes, but we opted for a DVD of somewhat random races, with a commentator quoting the odds before each event. We bet on sheep racing, fridge racing, a crazy cycle race, and cheese rolling, by which time we were losing the will to live, and commenced the main event of the evening.
Richard had brought a roulette wheel, complete with instructions – just as well since none of us had bet on one before. Now I’m not a particular enthusiast of gambling – some may recall my accounts of the most tedious evenings in my life spent in American casinos, surrounded by mind-numbing slot machines. Roulette, on the other hand, was fun. I know, I know, the principle is the same – you spin something and bet on when it will stop, but the roulette wheel had lots more betting options to play with, especially since we all started with £300 each.
Now I have to admit to having received a bit of coaching from Simon, who has, on occasion, dabbled in small scale on-line gambling. During our previous weekly lunch his recommendation was simply to keep gambling on the rolling ball stopping at either a red or black slot, and keep increasing the bet. I did, and kept winning. I also bet smaller amounts on other options, none of which delivered success. Chantal had a random strategy, trying any option that appealed at the time, and she lost everything.
For the last spin, we agreed to put all our remaining cash, other than notes, on the board, betting everything. I was one of just two of us holding cash as notes, which at least meant that I wouldn’t be bankrupted. I must admit that I did hold back some high value coins as well. The wheel was turned for one last time. It slowed and slowed, and finally stopped on the single green slot. The bank got the lost, and mist people, including Chantal, lost £300. I, on the other hand, came out with £700, a healthy £400 profit.
Now, before you all get excited, and look forward to a sumptuous family meal in a restaurant at my expense, I should explain that we had to return the money from whence it came – toy money from a board game of some sort, with poker chips for lower denominations. Otherwise you wouldn’t have found me betting 25p each time, let alone the £250 bets that I was placing. Playing with real money would have been far too stressful.
Technically we live in Oaktree House, but sadly the tree had to go.
We now have a thriving Oakstump at the front of the house.
