So far this month, LESS.
In a normal month, I would probably gamble on around 10 days per month.
So far this month, I have only gambled on one day.
The main reason being my uncertain employment situation.
I basically went from having two jobs (both casual AKA zero hours contracts with employers A and B) to having no job (ALL my stocktaking work - FOUR MONTHS worth - was cancelled until further notice) to having one job (employer B was contacted by Tesco looking for temporary store support staff).
All of this happened in the space of three days, during the week that started with De Pfeffel's announcement of the lockdown measures.
As things stand, I have been doing night shifts as a stock replenisher for Tesco for the past five weeks.
Or as Tesco would put it, I am helping to feed the nation.
Then again, given the ridiculous panic buying of bog roll at the start of all this madness,
I could also say I was definitely NOT helping to keep the collective arses of the nation clean.....oops.
Which reminds me, did anyone see this?
Bravo, Mr. Drake. Bravo.
Anyhow, I have to say that this work I am currently doing is a godsend, albeit a temporary one.
Given the unprecedented battering the retail sector has taken this past two months, combined with the lockdown measures that are currently in place, it is very likely that I may not resume my stocktaking work until August at the earliest. In a worst case scenario, it might not even resume until 2021.
That is where the real uncertainty with my employment situation lies.
I did get some other good news though. Earlier this week, "Employer A" informed me that, despite being a casual worker, I am eligible for a furlough payment. It won't be much, but every little helps (pardon the pun).
So given all of the above, I fully expect my overall spend on gambling to
continue to decrease until I have greater long-term certainty with my employment situation. The only way my gambling spend would increase is if I win more. And that then makes it more a case of "re-cycling winnings" than "depositing new money".
As for trying to fill the gambling void, well thankfully that has actually been quite easy.
Not sure why I did it, but I have been recently taken a trip down video gaming memory lane.
I downloaded emulators of the Amstrad CPC6128 and SNES and I also visit a website where I can play Atari 2600 games.
And I even dusted off my Nintendo 64 which had been gathering dust in my attic for over a decade.
I have been "re-learning" Mortal Kombat Trilogy (I have to say that my video gaming reflexes have somewhat regressed
- I must be getting old
).
But I can still perform Fatalities and Friendships, so I'm not completely rubbish. #humblebrag
But I do have something to complain about.
Those ghosts on Ms. Pacman,
when the actual f*ck did they start taking PEDs!?!?
What a f*cking liberty!
Oh. And I have been watching some videos from The Bandit's YT Channel, both old and new.
That has served a very useful purpose too.
So for now at least, I have got all my angles (anti-boredom, anti-skintdom, pro-activity, pro-RG) covered. *
But things could change and at short notice, so I'm taking nothing for granted.
* You just know that Kroffe will quickly post a gif that clearly demonstrates that I have not got ANY of my angles covered. I'll wait until he does post it before I call him a funny bastid though.
Oh look. I seem to have done another one of my VWM-esque long-assed posts.
I do apologise.
Well actually, no I don't. You know what I'm like. You should be used to it by now.
Anyway, I'm off for two days now. Time for some slots and some
. Slainte!
