Unlucky Friday?

Well, it's Friday 13th, do you dread it or does it not bother you at all?  I think we had all our strange happenings yesterday.  We were going to go out for the day as the weather was forecast to be dry and sunny.  Paul got the car out of the garage ready and popped to the Co-op for milk and a newspaper.  When he got back to the car park it wouldn't start.  Greenflag were called and were with him in about forty minutes.  Luckily the Co-op has a coffee machine so he was able to sit in the car with a drink and the newspaper whilst he waited.  It was the battery.  Luckily the mechanic who turned up had a van full of them and a new one was fitted.  The old one was taken away.  It was the original one fitted by the factory eleven years ago so had done well.

We decided then that we'd not go on our original planned outing and pop to the Dorothy Clive gardens for lunch instead.  Big mistake!  Halfway along there were roadworks with badly adjusted timings and a junction where two lanes had to run into one.  Forty minutes later we got to the junction and decided to turn left towards home and ended up at  Trentham Gardens.  Not that I minded, the walk was lovely and it was good to get out into the fresh air.

 

Even though it was cold it was bright and for some reason very quiet.  I think possibly lots of people walk early in the morning or after lunch.

This morning when we woke there was a frost.  It's typical November weather now.  Misty or frosty early mornings, pink or red skies at dusk.  We've been out this morning and bought vegetables to make soup.  It's definitely soup weather.  Leek and potato first I think, we can make some to eat and some to freeze. 

I was thinking about superstitions.  Some I remember from childhood.  My step-father was quite superstitious.  He didn't like passing people on stairs, didn't like umbrellas up in the house to dry out and always threw salt over his left shoulder if any was spilt.  Some superstitions like not walking under ladders are really quite practical. The black cat superstition always confused me as a child as some people said it was bad luck if a black cat crossed your path and some said it was good luck.  I remember years ago being give a pottery black cat as a souvenir from a holiday.  On it were painted the words 'Lucky Black Cat'.  

 It was also a time when at or just after midnight on New Year's Eve a dark haired person was designated to bring a piece of coal over the doorstep the ritual was known as first footing.  It was supposed to bring good luck into the house for the rest of the year.

I'm sure there are many more superstitions around in different parts of the world.

Well that's all for now.  Have a good weekend.