Elaine and Bill Drinkwater with their new tablet.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
September 22, 2015 - 4:30 PM
'THIS DOES NOT NORMALLY HAPPEN FOR ME, I’VE NEVER WON ANYTHING LIKE THIS'
VERNON - Vernon resident Elaine Drinkwater remembers the first prize she ever won — $50 towards a silver utensil set.
She was a teenager, and not particularly thrilled about the prize, especially since it didn’t even cover the full cost of the silverware. The prize stands out in her memory because even though she enters a number of contests, she very rarely wins.
Thanks to a recent Infotel Multimedia giveaway, however, Drinkwater has at least one prize she can’t wait to get her hands on: a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet.
“This is a considerable step up (from the silverware),” Drinkwater says with a laugh. “And a timely step up too.”
Not long after finding out she’d won, Drinkwater’s laptop — which she relied on for writing emails, reserving library books, and following the news — officially stopped working.
“It’s like it was holding on for dear life until I found a replacement,” she says.
Drinkwater threw her name in a jar at Infotel’s booth at the Armstrong IPE earlier this month and says it was a huge surprise to win.
“This does not normally happen for me,” she says. “I’ve never won anything like this.”
The avid reader and retired librarian plans to download books on the tablet, and get back to some creative writing. Since retiring five years ago, she’s meant to sit outside and write, but her old laptop continually over heated and didn’t have much battery life. It’s hard to get inspired when you’re having technical difficulties, but that shouldn’t be a problem anymore.
“We have a large swing on our deck that overlooks the lake. I’ll be sitting there, hopefully getting inspired to start writing again,” Drinkwater says.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015