A few days ago I posted about winning a wonderful prize of new Beats wireless headphones, and how I never win things very often. Well as it turns out, there’s a part two of that story.

A local radio station has an ongoing competition – listen to and rate songs to help them play what fans want, and go in the draw to win a prize. It’s been something I’ve been doing on and off for a while, in hopes of winning something cool. Sometimes it’s cash, sometimes a travel voucher, and recently a new smartphone.

A little bit of backstory. Ten years ago, I entered a random newspaper competition and won an iPad 2. I thought it would be a fun toy, but ever since then I never go anywhere without it. And because of that, I never really got around to getting a phone. I don’t drive, so whenever I go out (which in the last two years, with lockdowns and all, hasn’t been very often), my iPad has been my trusted device, using wifi at home and when I’m out and about. When my original iPad died in 2017, I was gifted a new one from my family.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I got an email with ‘winner’ in the title. It was from a well-known national radio station… the one that was giving away a smartphone. I was the winner! I could choose a Samsung S21 or an iPhone 13. Because I won an Apple iPad all those years ago, my device preference has been Apple – all my apps/accounts/purchases etc are tied to that. So confirming my prize over the phone, I picked the iPhone 13. And less than 48 hours later, it was in my hands.

I still can’t believe it.