jvr3419. Hi, I have been reading your posts: Man or woman the similarities are striking. I used to go out raving a lot in the late ’80s and 90’s, at one point at least once a week, we were mad for it and all that came with it. I had a lot of issues growing up. I came from a broken home and it was not pleasant with all the infighting and arguments, I CAN remember. I’m in my 50’s now and it’s still an issue. I took drugs and drank alcohol and gambled to block out my emotional pain. I started gambling when I was 8 while on holiday with my dad, stepmother and brother. I can still remember my first gambling experience to this day. We went to Westwood Ho in Cornwall England. I went down to the on-site amusements and started play playing one of the old Bell fruit machines 5p per play. I put £11.50 in it, it was in 1977 so £11.50 was a lot of money. I had been saving all my money up all year and I lost the lot in an hour I was putrid. I didn’t tell my parents as I was too scared to tell them. I didn’t have a very good time as I couldn’t do anything for the rest of the week and kept making excuses as to why I didn’t want to do anything. I used to go to the cobbly beach and watch the waves for hours and I found a gully that seemed to be massive, when the waves came in they washed through the gully and splashed up and over onto the rocks above. I went back there years later and found the gully, it wasn’t very big at all but I was only 8 the first time I went! Yeah so that’s when I first gambled and I used to gamble whenever I could when I was younger, normally when I was on holiday with my dad and stepmother. When I reached the age of 13 the pool hall opened in the town where I live and once they got fruit machines in there that was it I was down there all the time. I used to bunk school to go I lost every penny I had all the time to the gamblers. I got a job at 15 working as a commis chef in a local restaurant and very often once I got paid I would put all my wages in the 2 fruit machines they had in the pub after I finished work. It got really bad back then. I used to steal and I used to fiddle the fruit machines for free credits but I would end up losing all the money back anyways so it didn’t really benefit me, it just turned me into a criminal. I guess it just furthered my addiction. I could quite literally go for hours here about it but I’ll continue another day. I’m trying to think when I last had a gamble….. I went to the pub the other day 5th of October I had one pint of beer I put £3.50 in the bandit and won £7.00 so I walked away thinking I just got a free pint out of that pub but did I? I’m on day 2 again now….. 45 years of gambling hell TBC…..cheers for now Mutley.
