HIT THE JACKPOT

Sandra Black, 57, from Carlisle, woke up to racket, but her husband really did have something to scream about...

- ANAIS SEELY

Stirring from my sleep with the sound of the front door slamming, I was prepared to hear all of the dogs barking.

So much for a lie in.

Only, Raven, Kane, and our rescue pooch Meg didn't make a sound-which was very unlike them.

Instead, it was my husband Ian, 62, coming home from his night shift that was making a whole load of noise.

'Sandra come down and check this,' he screeched, bellowing from the bottom of the stairs.

'Get yourself down here, it's important,' he added just moments later.

With Meg recovering from an operation on her back legs after suffering from arthritis in late 2020, alongside her not making a peep when Ian had walked through the door, I instantly thought something was wrong.

Bolting out of bed, I headed downstairs, worried about the scene I was walking into.

Yet, as I reached the front room, I realised that all our furry friends were safe and sound.

'I need you to check this,' Ian said waving a piece of card in my face.

'What am I looking at?' I asked.

And before long I found myself staring at a Monopoly scratch card with all of the prizes revealed on the front.

Picking up scratchcards every now and then, Ian was no stranger to winning a couple of quid, but we'd only ever won around £100 tops.

'Look at the bottom corner,' he insisted, pointing to where he wanted me to look.

Two million pounds.

'Right,' I muttered, handing him the card back.

'You won't have won, you've done something wrong, I said, snatching it back and flipping it over to read the small print.

'Let's just make a cup of tea, and when the phone lines open at 9am you can ring them, I said, filling the kettle.

So, making a brew, we watched the clock.