Lotteries

Once upon a time, I always said 'I am not lucky with lotteries'...

The European Film festival is held annually in May. Everyday, there is a raffle draw and of course a winner would emerge. Those winners are asked to come on the last day of the film festival to participate in the final raffle draw for the grand prize. I have attended for two years and the grand prize has been a return ticket. In 2013, it was a return ticket by Air France to any destination in Europe while last year, 2014, it was a return ticket by Turkish Airlines to any destination in the world.



Well, I did not go everyday as this festival runs for about two weeks...On one of the days I went, my friend with whom I went was the lucky one for the day. One of the other days we were there was on the final day. I will spare you the details but guesss what! I WON THE GRAND PRIZE :-) Of course I was ecstatic. I was told how to get my ticket but it was not as straight forward as I thought it would be. Although I had made it clear that I would not use the ticket in 2014, I had to, in little but major ways, fight for it or else, I may not have got it. My ticket was finally redeemed almost a year later, in April 2015! I had to use it before the day I won it as it was valid for one year.

In February 2015, I was on my way home a week before Valentine's day. I was listening to one of the radio stations when the presenter announced that there were vouchers for 'dinner for two' to be won. The requirement was to identify the song he would play in  reverse and be the first one to tweet the name of the song and the singer at the radio stations twitter handle. I didn't think much of it until the song was played. It was such a short bit that one could easily miss it. And in reverse, how did he do that? But I recognised the song. Luckily, I had just parked. So I immediately sent what I thought in a tweet, at the same time thinking someone else might have answered before me. I totally forgot about it but about two hours later, I looked at my twitter feed and saw a weldone! Apparently he had announced that I had won but I was no longer listening to the radio station.

About four days later, I made out time to go and claim my voucher. This was a day to Valentine's day. I went with a friend of mine. On arrival at the office, we asked for the presenter who came out to meet us. He was pleasant. We had a chat then he went in to bring the voucher. I thanked him and we left. On our way out, my friend was curious so we opened it. She almost went back up. She was even more disappointed than I was. It was a voucher worth 2,500 naira and it stated a meal and a drink. This is certainly not enough for a meal and drinks for two. We wondered what the rationale behind it was and she insisted that I write about it but I laughed it off. Well, here I am!

So my myth of 'I am not lucky with lotteries' was proven to be untrue. Before I would  not bother to participate so both cases were more about the fact that I took the chance.  Hope this does not sound like some pep talk, but, sometimes, give yourself the benefit of doubt by trying before you conclude about something, will you?

Peace