On the way in through the front door into work today the security guard asked if he could borrow €10 from me. I found it a bit strange, so I decided to lend him €5 instead. He said he would pay me back with interest. I mentioned this to a colleague who informs me that he has been borrowing money off a lot of people lately - apparently he has a gambling habit. Looks like I wont be seeing my €5 in a hurry.

This led me to ponder on the fact that there seems to be a lot of betting shops springing up all over the place, both in Frankfurt and Marburg. Perhaps its a consequence of the faltering economy, but certainly when I first came to Germany I never saw any betting shops, and now there are adverts on TV advertising online betting as a cool and groovy thing to do. Maybe I'm getting old, but I find this wrong. Gambling holds no pleasure for me, but it will for a lot of people, of which a certain percentage will become addicted and their lives will fall apart. But advertising this as a great thing to do is bollox.