0

13 January 2012

Posted by DMC on 14 January 2012 in Diary |

‘Paraskevidekatriaphobics – People afflicted with a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th will be pricking up their ears about now, buoyed up by the seeming evidence that the source of their unholy terror might not be so irrational, after all. It’s unwise to take solace in a single scientific study, however, especially one so peculiar. I suspect these statistics have more to teach us about human psychology then the ill-fatedness of any particular date on the calendar.

(Source Wikipedia)

This superstition seems to date from ancient times. There will be three such occurrences this year, exactly 13 weeks apart. According to some it is the most widespread superstition in the USA today. Some people refuse to go to work on Friday the 13th; won’t eat in restaurants; and many wouldn’t think of setting a wedding on that date.

I certainly do not subscribe to this superstition and have never avoided walking under ladders, stepping on the joints in the paving on pavements and so on. Obviously there’s not much chance of me being either. Let’s hope I feel the same when I go to bed tonight. (Although I suppose that house could catch fire!

What I should mention, which is far more interesting then superstitions, is that this blog went through its 2 millionth hit, a few days ago. I had hoped it would occur on Christmas Day (who says but I’m not superstitious!) as the first million was clocked up on Christmas Day last year. But the second millionth missed it by a couple of weeks. Maybe if I last that long. we’ll get the 3 millionth. hit by Christmas Day this year. It still amazes me that so many people login regularly to check up on the life of a nobody. K know my friends and family look rather bashful when I asked them if they have read blog recently

They generally reply honestly, not for two or three weeks. If this is the general trend, as I suspect it is, then it means that there are something like 40 to 50,000′ regular’ readers which is a staggering number. So long as a few people everyday draw comfort from it; maybe learn some new trick or some way of overcoming a problem or feel reassured by something I have done or even just been amused for a few moments by whatever I at the have added at the end of a particular entry. If it has taken their mind. off their own problems, even for a minute or two then the blog is achieving its objective.

I was fortunate that Alice needed Paul ‘the computer’, yesterday so he came round for a couple of hours in the afternoon and, as usual, we spent the time tinkering about with the laptop, mainly working on improving my web cam picture and got it quite sharp at the receiving end. It was at that point we tested it out on Richard, my mother’s husband. This 93-year-old was very keen to be up-to-date with today’s technology. Unfortunately, his own picture seemed very blurred and although I sent him a Logitech camera. I don’t think it was up to much, so I shall buy another one. Not only will Richard. then the able to see each other but we will also be able to exchange views with my mother, which I know will give her some deal of pleasure. She will also be able to see her grandchildren from time to time thus overcoming the disadvantage of living so far away.

Part of Paul’s. tinkering was to see if he could get the infrared controller to operate my iPod from my laptop Paul is confident that he can do it with XP professional, but still has concerns about Windows 7. Anyway, he comes back next Monday for another stint of babysitting and hopefully he will have furthered that objective then.

An e-mail from Dr Michael. He is in his seventh heaven surrounded by family in Sweden all mucking in – as he puts it – , and also this trip has given him an opportunity of meeting son.

Tom’s new girlfriend, Cloe (Mick’s spelling not mine) With his two boys having delightful English girlfriends (William’s Daisy, whom I’ve met and would agree., is a poppet.) I am looking forward to meeting Cloe as I believe William has some business in this part of the world so it’s not impossible that they may call in to see me. Certainly, Friday the 13th held no fear from Mick-quite the opposite. The way things are. Mick feels as though all his Sundays have come together.

Talking of good fortune, how lucky was this one-day old baboon when he met this compassionate lion. Click here to see an amazing video.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2008-2024 D. Mark Cato's Blog All rights reserved.