Hope

I don't hold with The National Lottery: I reckon it's a tax on the gullible and optimistic. Still, with everybody's pension being under threat the Lottery syndicates within the Library Service are working overtime. Additional to this is The Bookies' Friend: a bunch of folk who gather round the racing pink every morning to come up with a list of the most stupid names that can be persuaded to form a sort of narrative when read out loud. Oddly enough, their finances are looking rosier than those of any of our high street banks.

Frog acts as their runner, so it was that we popped into Honest Joe's on the way out to lunch. As we left the place he said to me:

"You do realise that you've bought a ticket for the Irish Lottery."

And so I had. I do hope I win a pig.