A lottery winner’s partner misread the amount he had won after he landed a whopping £1 million – having thought he’d just won enough to do the bathroom up.
Paul McDonald, 48, won £1,063,516 on Sunday 19 December, but had to rush off to catch the second half of his child’s pantomime performance.
Arriving late, he quietly took his seat alongside his partner and showed her a screengrab of their ‘utterly life-changing' winnings.
Peering at the screen in the dark, she misread the amount as just £1,603.
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“Great, we can get the bathroom done,” she said to him, before calmly returning to watching the panto.
When McDonald had checked his emails earlier that day, he discovered a message congratulating him on a win – initially assuming the amount was much smaller than it was.
But a sizeable sum of more than £1 million was staring back at him.
He said: “I’d like to pretend I leapt about celebrating but instead I logged out, shut down the computer, made myself a cup of tea and watched the football for five minutes.
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“I think it was my way of dealing with the surprise but a slurp of tea and a bit of football kickstarted me again.
“I then logged back into the account about 30 times, each time expecting it to disappear but always seeing the same winning amount, eventually I took a screen grab and dashed off to catch the second half of the panto.”
It wasn't until they returned home that Paul's partner realised just how much he had won, and they sat down to talk about what to do with the money.
Paul continued: “I work in distribution so it’s been a whirlwind of a year involving lots of travel and project management, and with Christmas a very busy time in my industry, there’s barely been a spare second to plan for Christmas let alone plan for becoming a National Lottery millionaire!
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“My logical side of the brain is firmly engaged so there won’t be any rash decisions, if we do this well, we could make a difference not just to our lives but future generations too.
“I don’t intend to give up work, however the mortgage will be paid off so it will be nice to know that every pay cheque is mine, not to be shared with the mortgage lender.”
He added: “This win will mean we can enjoy little sparkles every now and then.
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"Whether it’s a luxury ski-holiday to Aspen, Christmas trips to Lapland, meals out with family and friends or weekends away just for us, breaking out from daily life and making memories is going to be utterly life-changing.
“It’s crazy, one minute you’re battling with extension leads and focused on putting up the Christmas lights, hoping to make it to the second half of the local Christmas panto to see your youngest’s performance, the next you’re a millionaire!
“I’ve worked all my life, I’m proud to be a grafter from a family of grafters, so to suddenly discover on a Sunday evening that I’ve won more money than most people earn in a lifetime is taking some time for the analytical side of my brain to absorb.
“The other part of my brain, the dreamer and adventurous side, is all over the win!"
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Featured Image Credit: National Lottery
Topics: UK News