Today's the day!

Paraskevidekatriaphobia, a word coined by an American psychotherapist which unfortunately has not made it into the Oxford Dictionary, means, of course, fear or hatred of Friday 13th. There seems to be a lot of it about – perhaps 20 million Americans won’t go to a restaurant on Friday 13th, it is said. Many think the origin is from the New Testament, particularly the last supper, although there are theories that the origins may lie in Norse folklore.

It has been said that people with thirteen letters in their name are evil, such as American serial killers Charles Manson, Theodore Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer. And Jack the Ripper. And Timothy Hedges.

Anyway, you Paraskevidekatriaphobes can take comfort in the fact that a Friday 13th cannot occur more than three times a year, and today is the only one in 2010.

(written with my fingers crossed)

Superstition - Friday 13th

Thought to be unlucky but nobody seems to know why. It is probably a mixture of Fridays being thought unlucky (probably stemming from Christianity) and the number 13 being unlucky (although this is not true even all over Europe) perhaps from there having been 13 at the last supper.

The Gregorian calendar we use means that there can never be a year without a Friday 13th and that there can never be one with more than 3 (there were three this year, but there will be only one in each of the next two).

A couple of days ago, hearing a squawking noise I opened the door and thirteen magpies rose into the air. Fortunately I am not superstitious (there must have been a fourteenth which I didn't see). The late Queen Mary (Princess Mae of Teck) used to bow three times when she saw a magpie. I'd have been up and down like a Japanese on pay rise day.

A good day for walking under ladders