The last few days have seen fortune smile on me. In addition to the Apple TV that I won on Thursday, Friday saw me winning a pair of tickets to see Michael Gambon in Krapp’s Last Tape, which is a play I really wanted to see but probably wouldn’t have gotten around to buying tickets for before it finishes in three weeks. As if that wasn’t enough, I arrived home after work to find I’d received a pair of cinema tickets as well!
I’m tempted to buy a lottery ticket but if it’s true things come in threes, I’ve had my whack! That said, the plan is to head over to B&Q to get some shelves so if I remember I’ll pop into the petrol station and buy a lucky dip, chances are I’ll forget. I’ve never really been tempted to become a hardcore lottery player. I think deep down I’m with that section of society who just see it as a tax on the poor. Not that middle class and upper class members of society don’t play the lottery, I just think more poor people do as they are the ones more desirous to leave their existing lives behind and are under the notion that a wheelbarrow full of cash will help them achieve it, hence they’ll spend more of their income on lottery tickets and scratch cards which the Government will tax.
Okay, that’s enough rabid cotton candy socialism. Going back to my latest run of good luck, I wonder if it’s some karmic payback? As I finally start getting my paperwork in order for the annual tax return I noticed that I’ve donated just over £200 so far this year. That’s probably more than I’ve donated in the last 10 years combined, not sure where this giving streak came from but at least I now know why I can’t afford the saxophone mute that I have currently set my heart on…
Yes, as regular readers will know I have, for the last 5 or 6 years, been telling anyone willing to listen that I am going to return to learning to play alto sax. What has always been the problem is the fact that the walls here at Omneo Towers are paper thin with me being able to listen to the upstairs neighbour’s TV quite clearly as I sit reading the newspaper. I’ve thus never felt comfortable subjecting them to the cacophony of noise masquerading as music I emit.
So I set out to find a mute that would allow me to practise without alienating the 3 households surrounding me. My search led me to discover the Sax Partner which is seemingly a Chinese copy of a near identical Japanese mute called the e-Sax but it’s around half the price, which is why it’s now on my wish list. Interestingly there is only one UK distributor and they sell it for £290. I almost bought one yesterday but I resisted and thought I’d have a quick look on-line which led me to a French retailer with a shop in Paris and an on-line division who would ship it to me for an all in price of £240. So, needless to say I will be taking my custom to France and buying 50 lucky dips in the lottery with the saving I make.
In case you hadn’t guessed, the title of this entry was lifted from The Gambler by Kenny Rodgers; a staple of Mr Omneo’s karaoke repertoire! What’s in your karaoke bag?
