The Amusement Arcade

It may not be Las Vegas, but the amusement arcades of British seaside towns are inextricably part of the summer holidays I remember from my childhood. They haven't changed much either – a few new machines of course, and silver coins are needed rather than the bag of pennies one used to make last an afternoon- but the sounds (clunks and bells and chimes and fairground music) are all still there, as are the flashing lights and frentic allure of dozens of machines –slot-machines (which we called fruit-machines), flipper-games, roll-a-coin, shooting games, driving simulators and -the always utterly frustrating grab-a-prize machine with its devious crane, -I remember them boasting prizes such as packets of cigarettes, soft toys and one or two expensive-looking watches that no one ever won. Now there are soft toys and iPods, but no one ever wins these either. But it's not really about actually winning the prize –it's holding onto the belief that you just may be lucky, and having a good time along the way; which, when I think about it, is pretty much what life itself should be all about. Location: Hemsby, England