In the meantime, in my circle of friends there was a solid group of players. We met regularly on Thursdays in a pub in Schlaidorf and played from 10 pm until 5 am. Afterwards we went directly to work, the day being correspondingly tough. I felt forced on Fridays to call it a day at 12 o’clock in order to catch up on lost sleep.

Apart from that at this time the things that interested me were the things that interested all young men: girls and mopeds. Mopeds remind me of a story that became traumatic. Together with my friends Bernd and Dietmar, I wanted to finally visit a casino. So one Friday night we rode to Baden-Baden and booked in to a bed and breakfast. Full of expectations in the evening we walked the few minutes to the nearby casino. I was first in the queue because I wanted at all costs to be first with an admission ticket in my hands. Then the shock: the friendly man at the entrance looked at me without uttering a word. I asked him if everything was alright to which he replied that admission to the casino was only permissible from the age of 21. That was what the law required. We stood there dumbstruck and there was nothing other to do than return to the guesthouse and play cards together. Things like that happen when you are not well informed. We swore to return as soon as we were 21.

 

The thin line between good luck and bad luck can be seen in my experience of winning at tombola. I was one of ten to win an all-inclusive trip to Cairo. We took off on a rainy December day and landed later in sunshine and 21°. It was fantastic. The following evening I went to the hotel casino and played Roulette and Black Jack. A disastrous mistake and I never want to experience such a night again.