valerieathome: Friday

It has been warm today, 85 degrees. I've had a nice day. After doing my chaplaincy round I went out to lunch with Bruce and Rosalyn. We thought we would like to try something new, so went out to the buffet at the Grand Casino, which is just outside Shawnee, on the way to OK City.

It was a very good lunch with a lot of choice, I had roast beef with vegetables but there was a very extensive salad bar as well.

I would have liked a picture of the buffet, but couldn't get it all in. You see how it winds around.

We were just there for lunch, we didn't have any interest in gambling, but as I hadn't been before I wanted to take a few pictures of the casino area, so set off while Bruce and Rosalyn were finishing their lunch.

And took this while they weren't looking.

Then plunged into the Casino.

And this, dear friends and loved ones, is what passes for a casino in this country.

A MEGA - Amusement Arcade, with 2800 (I asked) slot machines, more Southend Pier than Monte Carlo. That is to say, it has all the plushness of Monte Carlo, and the facilities of Southend Pier. Eat your heart out 007. Even if the creators of this casino had never been to Monte Carlo, would you not have thought that they might, at least, have gone to see Casino Royale?

I thought "they must surely have some poker tables here somewhere" and continued my quest to find some. And lo and behold, I found half a dozen. Half a dozen poker tables - in a casino.

The slot machines are what we would call one-arm bandits, but they have progressed along with the rest of technology and are now extremely high tech. Bruce and Rosalyn caught up with me when they finished their lunch, and Bruce tried to show me how one worked, but it was way too confusing for me. Just as well I didn't want to gamble.

But this confusion with technology obviously doesn't affect all little old ladies.