We lived at number 13 when I was a child and one day, when my mother refused to buy home-made pegs at the front door, a gypsy put a curse on our home. Everything went wrong after that: we sold the house and I've been superstitious ever since. I won't travel on the 13th, write a cheque on the 13th, and once even refused an operation on the dreaded day, preferring to suffer in silence...I got married on Friday March 12 because I didn't want my wedding anniversary on the 13th, and I've always avoided Friday the 13th by staying at home.There are thirteen steps to the gallows, so legend says, and that's enough to frighten anyone.
The Greeks, who took the whole thing very seriously, had a word for fear of the number 13 - dekatriaphobia. Sounds painful, doesn't it? Sounds pretty ridiculous, too, come to think of it. So as the seconds tick by to midnight remember the old saying:
Don't trouble thirteen
Till thirteen troubles you
For if you trouble thirteen
You'll trouble others too
Superstitious? Me? Not any more...
HAPPY NEW YEAR
to you all!
