TaffyTipster
Market Sharp
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2022
- Messages
- 522
- Reaction score
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- Points
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Walking through Pontypridd last weekend.
The William Hill where my dad used to take me on Saturday afternoons has been empty for two years. Faded logo still on the window. One of four shops within three streets that are now closed.
My dad brought me in when I was about twelve. Not to bet obviously. Just because it was where he went on Saturdays. I'd stand next to him and watch the racing on the screens and listen to the commentary.
Smelled like carpet and cigarettes and instant coffee. Full of men who knew each other by first name and argued about form guides.
It was a social space as much as a betting space. For a lot of those men it was the reason to leave the house on a Saturday.
That's gone now. The men who were there are at home alone with a phone.
I'm not sure that's better. I'm not sure it's worse. But something specific disappeared and nobody had a funeral for it.
The William Hill where my dad used to take me on Saturday afternoons has been empty for two years. Faded logo still on the window. One of four shops within three streets that are now closed.
My dad brought me in when I was about twelve. Not to bet obviously. Just because it was where he went on Saturdays. I'd stand next to him and watch the racing on the screens and listen to the commentary.
Smelled like carpet and cigarettes and instant coffee. Full of men who knew each other by first name and argued about form guides.
It was a social space as much as a betting space. For a lot of those men it was the reason to leave the house on a Saturday.
That's gone now. The men who were there are at home alone with a phone.
I'm not sure that's better. I'm not sure it's worse. But something specific disappeared and nobody had a funeral for it.
