A night with numbers....
Legs 11, clickety click 66, highway to heaven number 7
– I think you’ve all guessed what I’m going on about. If the words Gala, Beacon, Coronet mean
something other than their dictionary meaning then welcome to my world.
Many moons ago the words “let’s go to bingo” were met
with “but that’s for old people” but how things have changed. When I first started out it was Gala bingo and
that was in Banbury or even treks out to Swindon were not uncommon. The quick decision at just after 6.30pm meant
jumping in the car and flying at break neck speed (of course at speed limit
only) to Swindon to get there for the 7.30pm start.
After a while Gala started to go downhill and the
money for a line, 2 lines and a house weren’t very much so my mother introduced
me to Beacon. The nearest Beacon for me
is Northampton – ok so it’s a 45 minute drive but worth it once I get there.
The avid dabbers would already be sat at their normal
tables – yes they were the ones that always sat in the same place and god
forbid if you sat in their seat. If you
did, then you would get that look as they walked in and that same look for the
whole time you were there. Some people
can be precious about their seats. And
no I don’t go to the same seat each time I’m there, oh well possibly I might on
the odd occasion if it’s my lucky seat and I’ve won.
Do you become superstitious when you go to bingo? Wear
the same outfit that you won in last time, go to the same seat, mark with the
same pen/dabber that won you. You are
all nodding no of course not, but come on you know you’ve done it and you are
now laughing at yourself. I’ve even
kissed my dabber pen and said “come on baby let me win tonight”, like that’s
going to help.
So how does the evening pan out, arrive early for food
and then do anything and everything to avoid playing on the party bingo
machines. I try hard not to as these can
eat all your money up before the bingo has actually started, so I take my book
to read and fiddle on my mobile. 7.30pm
is bingo time, I’ve been going for so long that I know what order the books are
played. You can notice the newbies as
they have no idea and their books aren’t laid out in the correct order so you
see them scrabbling to find the first one before the first number is called.
Now the bingo callers, I raise my eyes to the ceiling
when the lady that calls stupid numbers (none of them are actually on my
ticket!) heads up onto the stage and pray that she’s just heading up there to
water the plant or something but no such luck she picks up the mic and says
“hello I’ll be calling for you tonight”.
I know my evening is not going to be a winner. 6 tickets, 90 numbers and she can’t manage to
call them so that I can win. I can
usually get a line but it’s never on the same ticket, just a pretty vertical
one. Sometimes she calls numbers and I
make pretty patterns on my tickets.
I’ve always feared that I would miss my numbers or
miss a line, house or something so I really do concentrate, dare anyone
interrupt my concentration. What’s worse
is when I’m needing 1 or 2 numbers to win.
I suddenly go into praying mode, please please please let me now win, I
can hear myself chanting away. When the
line gets called by someone else, I can hear it come out of my mouth “stupid
woman” I mumble. Anyone that does win I
always say they didn’t deserve to win, I should have. I am a quiet person but for some reason when
it comes time to letting the caller know I’ve won I develop what I can only
describe as a shout of YES that would make a fog horn sound dull. Those around me tend to jump out of their
skin. Well they do say shout loud. It’s the only time I proudly thrust my bingo
wings into the air and hold that winning ticket up high.
At some point during the evening when you are playing
bingo you will always hear that one little mobile phone ring and then the
person frantically trying to dig it out of their handbag/pocket to silence
it. How many heads turn to hunt this
person out and then tut at them, this is quite amusing actually. However some
people still come to the bingo for a good old catch up and chat with the pals
and have no problems with chatting the whole session and letting us all hear
they are receiving text messages. You
can learn a lot about the lives of some people as they are quite vocal about
it.
My (not so) Lucky Outfit
Shirt - New Look - Ebay
Vest Top - Primark
Jeans - New Look
Shoes - Primark
Much Love
N
x
Love your shirt, it's so cute.
ReplyDeleteEllie xo blog design | beauty & style
I've only been to bingo once and I was very disappointed that the caller stuck to just the numbers, no descriptions. No legs eleven! I felt cheated! :) x
ReplyDeletelol, sorry you were unlucky in bingo. I've never been but folks i know that go LOVE IT and I cannot understand why? lol Anyway, you look great in your dots. Great blog! I'm following you and I hope that you'll visit my blog and follow me too!
ReplyDelete