(March 2009)
Just a quick one on my first foray into the world of professional bingo....well that’s what it felt like!
I had previously only ever been to bingo a few times at the Wagga RSL back when I was at uni but I thought I knew the gist of what was going on. I mean how different could it be to back home. Yeah I was pretty stupid on this one wasn’t I? Gala Bingo is absolutely nothing like Wagga RSL bingo! I turned up with the girls, excited like a five year old with my “learner dabber” that you get when you join. The place was like a huge hall with lots of overweight middle aged women and little old ladies who kept popping out to chain-smoke. The only men seemed to be some old guy husbands of little old ladies and one or two young guys who had the aura of ‘I still live with my mum even though I’m 35’. And you know what, despite my admittedly snobbish/overly observant first impressions I had an absolutely awesome time. Like I said though it felt like these people were professional players- the announcer people read out the numbers at 100 miles an hour (it was all I could do to keep up let alone realise that I had bingo!). I did win too, 10 quid! I was beyond excited and I think everyone thought I was cute- if not a little sad!
When you join up you get a new members pack, which included a big learner dabber (red) and some vouchers for the bar and stuff. I utilised these to maximum advantage and got some looks of disgust from some of the pro’s when I got my free pint- they looked absolutely horrified that I might even consider impairing my bingo skills with Carling- man lighten up guys! It’s supposed to be fun!
So I had a wonderful time and our group had quite a successful night. I went home happy after downing my free beer, with my £10 in winnings and 5 free packets of salt and vinegar chips that I got at the bistro........BINGO!
