My comping adventures began 19 years ago and I enjoyed some success as recalled in my earlier post.
http://insidethewendyhouse.blogspot.com/2010/09/joy-of-comping-part-1.html
However when my next child was born we moved to the country. The abundance of city centre supermarkets were no longer available to me and my access to those entry forms dried up. So that combined with the demands of relocating with a new baby saw a natural end to my glory days!
I didn't really touch competitions again for a while. I had a very brief and not very successful dabble when I discovered the MSE forums but found the new approach to comping was quite alien. No longer was the element of skill involved and as I hadn't discovered Roboform, I felt that the endless typing out of details was not for me. I busied myself with the heady rush of Farmville on Facebook and didn't give the competitions a second thought!!!
It wasn't until three months ago that the old comping bug resurfaced. My daughter had wanted V Festival tickets as she heard that her favourite singer Joshua Radin was to be performing. We are not in the financial position to be able to buy the over inflated tickets that are available just prior to the festival taking place. The thought of entering the world of techno-comping did not occur to me until, whilst on Facebook, I saw an OK competition to win tickets. It was asking for the reason why you wanted to win and that brought back the familiar comfort of the slogan comp from days gone by. I tentatively entered 15 minutes before the deadline...this new world of entering competitions seemed so open, so public and quite scary. Some 30 minutes after the competition closed, a message popped up on Facebook announcing me as the winner! Telling my daughter was fantastic...she was delighted and went on to have a fabulous time. I was again hooked, knowing I could make a positive difference to my children's lives, giving them otherwise impossible experiences and having a huge amount of fun in the process.
I discovered this whole new world of video competitions and photo competitions which are a real outlet for creativity and very entertaining to take part in! My husband took on the physical challenge of the Hyundai Contest...a real once in a lifetime experience (and judging by his still aching wrists it is definitely something never to be repeated!!) Regardless of the outcomes, as long as we enjoy it, this adventure into competitions is an exciting one and I am not ashamed of being regarded as a "comper"!
