Abstain and maintain.Stepping forward never back.

You are grafting hard and giving recovery a good name.

A word of warning - don't let your new phone (I assume it's a smartphone) tempt you into you-know-what. Having internet access on my phone was my undoing last year. I sometime wish I still had my old Nokia 3310 - a phone built for calls and texts without all this app nonsense. Having said that, I just posted this message from my smartphone.

Keep it up. You are a great servant on this site.

Thanks pelle

Fella all my gambling was done in the bookies, never gambled a penny online, but rest assured the first thing I did was set the perental block with a random password, always vigilant.

Duncs stepping forward never back.

Hi Duncs

Loved the menu, roast for me and mrs Ginger too, thurs and sundays our roast day's, my wife's a health freak so like you we have lots of different veggies,

my poison was the bookies too mac, it must be so much more difficult for onliners to abstain and maintain as it's 24/7 temptation,

onwards and upwards...Ginger.

Hi Duncs, another one with the same poison wishing I'd had an invite to that roast (not the cabbage tho)!

Congratulations on your new fandangled bit of kit & your continuing choices, they remain an inspiration to me!

I hope you never want to stop posting 🙂

evening diary

robman great to see you posting fella,we together have commited to some amazing work away from the forum,great that we can share it here too.

for me there are quite a few amazing folk that i talk to away from the forum,all met through this outstanding place,robman came here broken and desperate for help,a friend to reach out to,i am priveledged to have been there,we live at other ends of the country but it has not hindered our support for each other.

hopefully we will get to meet in the coming month,something else recovery gifts.

i thruthfully could'nt give a f**k about anyone or anything all the time i gambled,just interested in finding or funding that next punt.

been working hard all day just got in now,back at it tomorrow and sunday then a day of rest monday.

the new phone is proving a challenge lol,going from a phone that is basic at best to one with bells and whistles is hard,more so because i am a techno phobe lol.

monday i will need to find some kind of case for it,for now it is being kept in a sock lol.

no gambling thoughts today,this morning i set off with the hounds,again on frosted ground up over the hi#ll across the top of pompey to use the spare time i had.

they are such amazing company,truly mans best friend,they give unconditionally and ask nothing in return,something i would do to learn a great deal from.

the life they enjoy today is far different to the one they endured before we rescued them, at times looking into there eyes i can see nothing but joy unrelented joy.

much the same for me today.

why?

because today i choose not to feed a single note into a £500 dream breaker.

abstain and maintain

duncs stepping forward never back.

no bet today,no time,no want and in the right location.

the triangle constantly broken.

Is the sock clean? 😉

lol

fella i could open a shop for unworn single socks!!!! i somehow have a draw full!!!!!!

i am fashioning a marvelous christmas one as a phone case.

even funnier i sat talking to my boss and eventually he said

'aren't you going to answer that!!!'

of course its the new phone ringing!

before i got it out the sock you guessed it,it stopped ringing.

my boss was howling!

regards my dear friend.

duncs.

Good to hear mate, I'm still knocking around, just couldn't read that latest post without making a sock-based comment! Might bring all of my solo socks down to yours see if we can make a pair between us!

I don't think I'd know my phone ringing either...it lives on silent because of my work and I never remember to switch the sound on, so everybody who wants to call may as well just have come over and said hello anyway! It never seems to be anything too interesting, apart from people selling stuff. :P

Delighted to read you're still doing well, and still envious of the lifestyle that allows you to keep dogs...one day I'll get off these shifts and get a proper job. Forget crazy cat ladies, I'll be a dotty dog bloke.

morning diary

ryan i am without doubt a dog man,hounds being my choosen breed,whippets fit the bill for us,they are small but have all the traits of there larger cousins,they are feircely loyal,loving get on with everyone,oh and the are sneaky deceitful thieves lol,but you cant help but love them. i have just got back from a long walk with them,a great way to start my day,wind bitingly cold on the hi#ll,crisp under foot,the boys doing what they do best,sniffing everything,searching the elusive rabbit or some fox P**P for them to roll in,fortunatly niether found! home for breakfast and they have found there way under the duvet in our bed,where they will stay until an opportunity of food is presented lol, the sound of the toaster popping or the biscuit tin will rouse them from the deepest of sleeps!!

i am off to work shortly,my body feels punished by this weeks schedule,the cold nights no fun to cycle in,but i shave twenty minutes off the bus journey and save £4.20 each day,so my mind is gifted much strenght,my soul fed at making a choice that gifts.

funny to read that,as i would have thought nothing of plonking double that on one number during my gambling life,just to watch it get washed away on the spun of a wheel.

i love the new campaign for awareness of gambling 'problems' my view is the industry want to turn the 'normal' punters opinion of so called problem gamblers into something forming hatred,the old 'they ruin our FUN with there lack of self control!!

well your adverts do nothing in my mind,they are pointless,but hey you will champion the fact that you are 'addressing' the issue in the vain hope the government will allow the cash cow to keep rolling on.

well today you wont be getting a single penny of my hard earned.

my resolve strong,my mind set

i live a better life without waging a single bet.

ironically that for me is the way to live life as a winner.

abstain and maintain.

duncs stepping forward never back.

Brilliant posts this week Duncs. Clearly lots of people take a lot from your posts, the one thing that really strikes a chord with me is that recovery is a gift and by staying strong we are gifting ourself. I got this from reading your posts and I try to think about it everyday. Last night after the football I was at a gig and I thought to myself wow this amazing gig is a gift to myself brought on by me choosing recovery. The old Phil would have had to miss out as my money would have been spent in a bookmakers. You helped me get back on track and I want to keep gifting myself recovery.

I look forward to reading this weeks posts Duncs!

Phil

Hi Duncs,

o*g, i just happen to read through your recent posts and noticed a sock sentence....heh lol..sorry, listen, i have a lot of cases for the phone (depends what you have lol..mine is Samsung S4 i think)..so am more than happy to send few over...now...i have to warn ya, they have some diamonds attached to them so a little girlie like, but hey..still better than a SOCK!!!??? lol..i also seen comment from Ryan..ohh dear..tut tut ...how could you pick on cat ladies??? I have 2 cats (not by choice) but still lovely (scratching beasts lol)...
Nahh...dogs are true friends and just never lets us down. So pleased for you Duncs to have your loyal friends by your side...my dream is to have my own house and a nice dog to start with and we all know how we can achieve this - abstain and maintain from this destroying disease!!! Work in progress...proud of you my friend!! Keep on keeping on.

Speak later
Take a good care of yourself and yours

S xxxx

morning diary.

thanks all,Sandra I will pick up a case today,I have a nokia something or other lol!!

I must say I won't be using it to write here,the format I do not like,I will stick to using this Tablet thing,lol it might take an eternity to type a post but I can see what I am typing.

So reading the book Markman suggested I have to say what a good read,a whitty account of life and the trials it brought at the turn of the century,to boot written by a fella without in many folks eyes the qualifications to do so.

For me today the difference is the 'life' cycle can be broken,we really do control our destinies. We are fortunate beyond belief,We have two of our kids at university,studying qualifications that will enable them the ability to do what they want to in life,our youngest is in his last year of school,college and uni beckons for him too.

Through the life our children have lived they know about many things,they are in my mind worldly,they are also very grounded in their views and understand why they are doing what they are in life,because they want to do those things.

I have written many times here I cook for a living,cooking has always been my go to,the place where I can escape to,cooking absorbs my attention,I work really hard to achieve the best I can with all I cook,in my workplace I have a simple mantra for all my chefs 'if you wouldn't eat what your dishing up then don't!!' At home I follow the same mantra,always seeking the 'perfect' dish,but that for me is the wonderful thing about cooking,the dish can always be enhanced,actually save for the best dish in the world.

The boiled egg!!! that is beauty in itself,nothing in my mind beats it,you can hard boil it for a sandwich,soft boil it for soilders and hundreds of variables in between but for me the boiled egg is the ultimate food,comforting,honest and most importantly it is delicious lol.

My point is cooking is good for my soul,it feeds it,I live it 24/7 it drives me,work comes easy,because I enjoy it.

My wish is to bestow that opportunity for our children,for them to find a vocation that they want to do,something that will forefill their lives beyond a salary.

The difference today in today's living is that is possible.

like religion I don't have a political party I follow in answer to your question Markman.

why?

because for me there simply is not one who either has manifesto's I believe in or it would seem the ability to forefill them,so I will be voting come election day, my ballet will say on the bottom 'none of the above' I will ensure I take the trouble to do so,like my ramblings here aimed at the gambling industry I will do so in the hope that someone might read it.

So day off today,my brain is wide awake,yearns to be fed,my body ruined,lol,the weekends graft took it's toll,last night I came home ate some amazing cottage pie my beautiful wife made and promptly put myself to bed.

I have commanded my legs to move this morning they said No lol,so I am enjoying a lay in,the whippets not fussed at no early walk,lol they snuck into the warm part of the bed no sooner than Sarah left it to get ready for work,they have not moved since lol.

today I have a few chores to do,but in the main I can just relax.

Any anger I have will be directed at the accounts person who has still failed to pay for works carried out in december,in fact they will recieve a visit in person tomorrow,so today I will wander with the hounds,laze about and gift myself a well earned day off.

All made possible by a life choice,not to let addiction control my mind,yes you can squat in the depths of my mind,that I accept will be a fact of life.

I will not feed you a single penny,I may pi##ss on you from a great height if I choose to,but hey my pi##ss is to good for you!!

You stay there,where I can see you,sceeming.sulking at the lack of attention.

because in my mind if your there under my control,maybe your not able to f**k up someone else's life,mind.

Abstain and maintain

Duncs stepping forward never back.

No bet today

Lovely post to read Duncs on a very sunny Monday morning.

Enjoy your well deserved day off,

Suzanne xxx

,

I love reading your posts Duncan and daily you continue to inspire people and point them in the right direction , I wish we could nominate you for some kinf of award for your continued support to those who need it most.

The modest person you are would argue your reward is helping others.

Duncs, without fail the master of the written word, only he can put the humble egg on such a pedestal, but for me fella it has to be poached. always thankful for your inspirational posts...onwards and upwards...Ginger.