Luck.

Hey,

Sorry I haven't really been here in the last week. I've been really busy with essays to write and hockey to play. Also add the visit of Stevie to Glasgow this weekend, adding to the eventfulness of it all. I showed him Glasgow and my hockey acquaintances and a good time was had by all I reckon. Banter is always good. Hockey has been a bit of a nuisance though. I have a match tonight, which will be my third in three days and my fourth since Wednesday. I'm pretty numb from the knees downwards, and it hurts. What also hurts is that we have lost all these games (well, the game yesterday we lost on penalties, so we technically drew), even though we have played quite well in all the games. When luck is not on your side, it is not on your side.

Luck is the main topic of today's blog. Last weekend I did the manly thing and put an accumulator on the football scores, which is something I do not normally do. It was nothing minor, just £1 on six teams to win. To cut a long story short if Bournemouth had won last week I would have won £57.

But I didn't.

See, gambling is just a long list of maybes and could ofs (someone check my grammar there, I know it is not right). It is the stupid tax. I don't think anyone truly wins from gambling, apart from the bookmakers themselves. Sure, there will be those who say "I won £X on the horses" and suchlike, but in the long run chances are you will lose more than you win. It's probabilities, innit.

It cannot be a coincidence there is at least five bookmakers in Maryhill, it just can't. Big bookmakers benefit from the desperation of people, especially the poor. The temptation to try and win easy money is just too strong for some people. The National Lottery has millions of contestants, but the odds of winning the £3million are so long you are probably more likely to be harassed by Tiger Woods. As I say, it's probabilities, innit.

I had made these conclusions last week, before I watched "Louis Theroux on Las Vegas", which is on BBC iPlayer currently. In the show he highlights the way big casinos treat their "loyal" customers is a touch shocking. One client, for instance, gets the biggest suite in North America (supposedly) for when he goes to Vegas. The hint that it makes fiscal sense to sweeten these people up just shows how much money these casinos can suck out of people. It just all seems so wrong.

Anyways, enough of the gambling rant. Luck also played a feature this week as I campaigned for two of my friends in student elections. Unfortunately, both of them lost. Can this be put down to luck? I'm not sure. But when you've lost the election despite winning the most votes (the list system / proportional representation) it feels like luck is against you, sometimes.

For now I shall leave you to get on with your lives, which are very busy I am sure. Hopefully, we will win tonight in this hockey match, we are bound to win eventually.

It's probabilities, innit.

DC x