From: "Dave  Coull" <d.y.coull-AT-dundee.ac.uk>
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 16:34:03 GMT
Subject: Re: We've gone Suth'rn


Carp wrote

>I thought you scots invented gambling.

Me, I don't know anything about gambling.

My dad now, he knew a lot about gambling.
Not enough to actually win, mind you, but 
in theory he knew a lot about it. He used 
to bet on the horses every Saturday. He
did complicated bets called a "Yankee" 
which if I remember correctly is six cross
doubles and four cross trebles. Dad studied 
form a lot and kept thinking he had finally
hit the winning formula. Trouble was, 
I believed him. I used to back the horses 
he had picked. Once, I was going to be 
in the next town, but I put  _ALL_  my money 
on the horses  my dad had picked. They lost. 
Which meant that I didn't have my bus fare home. 
I tried hitch-hiking but nobody would stop for me. 
I ended up walking home, all thirteen miles of 
the way. I did still sometimes back horses which
dad had picked after that, but I didn't put  _ALL_  
my money on them. Well, I may be slow, but I'm
not stupid. Not twice, anyway. I gave up backing 
horses after dad died. Well, unlike him, I didn't 
have a  _system_ . Mind you, I suppose I could 
have just closed my eyes and stuck a pin 
in the newspaper list of the horse's names.


Dave