Friday the 13th

[J.R.]

Don't worry,cj, according to the most superstitious person I know, it's only NEW shoes on the table you need to worry about, and there I was thinking you come over as one of the sunniest people on the forum!

Shoes on a table were discussed on 'Paul O'Grady' on Friday.

No mention of NEW shoes. Apparently this one goes back to public executions. The early method was to stand the condemmed person on a table, fix the noose, then pull the table away.

'Unlucky 13' has the same beginnings. Apparently, when they went over to scaffolds, there were always 13 steps leading up to the noose.

And yet another, though not a superstition, but a saying.

'Money for Old Rope'

The hangman would supplement his fee by selling the noose after the execution to the highest bidder, hence.....

There are a couple more sayings and superstitions relating to hanging, but they escape me at the moment, apart from....

'Keep your trap shut !!'

[sejintenej]

Local rag had a page about why Friday 13th is a good day. Seems to boil down to all the things which have happened in the past which can never happen again like:
13 at supper before Good Friday
Noah's flood started on a Friday
The devil persuaded Eve to get Adam to eat the apple on a Friday

(I can't remember any more!)

However, I woke up Friday morning sweating like the proverbial ... and it was about 8 degrees and pouring heavily. It then got worse.

It is a particularly fertile type of rain - the weeds are higher than the broad beans - 3 feet high in about 2 months. It is going to take weeks to weed the beds!

A front tyre on the tractor had a puncture so went and fixed that. Came back and the other front tyre was flat. Fixed that and tried to start the tractor - not a peep. Take battery to a friend to get it charged - he was an electronics engineer and reckoned the battery was f***ed.

Get home and SWMBO had been playing with the TV. For some reason it has never received ITV (can you blame it?) so she decided to pull the ariel out of the socket in the wall - not by the plug but by the cable - in the hopes of getting ITV. Pulls half of the innards of the wall socket out! Then yanks the wire out of the plug shorting the whole caboodle so nothing works.

Last time I was here the PC went down - summat wrong with the operating system requiring the insertion of the CD. Of course I hadn't got it, younger son kept promising but somehow didn't get round to getting it out so ------ Anyway, Friday I boot up the PC and (as expected) nowt happens. Yesterday it worked! Today the tractor started first time and the sun came out! Sunday 15th seems to be a good day!

Anyway, I's 'ere and just got my invite to the OB day on the 17th. I also got an email from Ryanair who decided to change my flight so there is no way I can get there in any case.

Don't get too sunburned

[Wuppertal]

I won 100 Swiss Francs (about £50) on a scratchcard that I decided to buy as it was Friday the 13th!

[sejintenej]

Methinks I posted too soon.
I was hardly in the land of nod when it seemed to me that I had the Styx boatman and the Grim Reaper competing to smash the roof and every available window. Was it a racket or simply a big noise at 1.30 am.?

Turned out to be hail which punctured tiles, got under the roof and melted flooding the house and decimated (wrong word - is it centimated which refers to total 100% destruction?) all our fruit trees, plants, even pots and lastic went through the shredder, cars punctured by hail stones (I was lucky to escape that). 10am and we still had 8 inches of hail lying on the drive despite warm temperatures. The force of the wind behind the ice has stripped the paint off parts of the front wall and windows.

We could not even dry out - 3 inches of rain plus a long long thunderstorm the following night. Hefty insurance claim being prepared.

No, not Friday 13th - France is a bit laid back so it takes a bit of time for them to work up to it.

[midget]

Well done, Wuppertal

Maggie

[englishangel]

Methinks I posted too soon.
I was hardly in the land of nod when it seemed to me that I had the Styx boatman and the Grim Reaper competing to smash the roof and every available window. Was it a racket or simply a big noise at 1.30 am.?

Turned out to be hail which punctured tiles, got under the roof and melted flooding the house and decimated (wrong word - is it centimated which refers to total 100% destruction?) all our fruit trees, plants, even pots and lastic went through the shredder, cars punctured by hail stones (I was lucky to escape that). 10am and we still had 8 inches of hail lying on the drive despite warm temperatures. The force of the wind behind the ice has stripped the paint off parts of the front wall and windows.

We could not even dry out - 3 inches of rain plus a long long thunderstorm the following night. Hefty insurance claim being prepared.

No, not Friday 13th - France is a bit laid back so it takes a bit of time for them to work up to it.

Blimey. we haven't seen precipitation since it snowed 3 weeks ago.

[Angela Woodford]

I can hardly believe this, but the Transport Policeman to whom I reported my lost handbag has tracked it down!

Examining the CCTV recording , wonderful PC Gilbody saw a man board a train on another platform with my bag. This train stopped at two stations only, at one of which my bag was discarded! I collected it from Maidstone West yesterday! All the money gone, obviously, but diaries, notebook, phone, lipstick and cards all there. This is so superb. Fantastic. Today I buy the biggest glossiest thank you card for PC Gilbody!

Munch

[Angela Woodford]

It is a particularly fertile type of rain - the weeds are higher than the broad beans - 3 feet high in about 2 months. It is going to take weeks to weed the beds!

I was horrified to read about your destructive hailstorm! How dreadful!

I do wish I could help with your weeding.

Munch

[icomefromalanddownunder]

I can hardly believe this, but the Transport Policeman to whom I reported my lost handbag has tracked it down!

Examining the CCTV recording , wonderful PC Gilbody saw a man board a train on another platform with my bag. This train stopped at two stations only, at one of which my bag was discarded! I collected it from Maidstone West yesterday! All the money gone, obviously, but diaries, notebook, phone, lipstick and cards all there. This is so superb. Fantastic. Today I buy the biggest glossiest thank you card for PC Gilbody!

Munch

Hooray for PC Gilbody indeed. Any chance of him relocating to Adelaide, where his dedication to duty would be much appreciated?

Are they able to track the thief down?

Sorry about the money, but I guess you didn't expect to get that back, and thank goodness your lippie was recovered

I'm off home for a good lie down. Day off tomorrow in honour of the ANZACS - thanks guys (for everything).

[cj]

I can hardly believe this, but the Transport Policeman to whom I reported my lost handbag has tracked it down!

Examining the CCTV recording , wonderful PC Gilbody saw a man board a train on another platform with my bag. This train stopped at two stations only, at one of which my bag was discarded! I collected it from Maidstone West yesterday! All the money gone, obviously, but diaries, notebook, phone, lipstick and cards all there. This is so superb. Fantastic. Today I buy the biggest glossiest thank you card for PC Gilbody!

Munch

Hoorah for PC Gilbody!!

What a relief! You must be pleased. I had my bag pinched out of a car in Gloucestershire years ago and I remember the feeling of violation, that they were rummaging through my things. Fortunately there was no money in my purse as I was on the dole at the time, but they were using my (cancelled) cards very quickly in Liverpool and Manchester. Ironically, and this shows that cheats never prosper, they had missed my mum's bag (which was underneath mine) and it had £200 in cash inside!! Yah boo sucks to you, Fritzy etc. Now I never leave anything visible in the car.

[J.R.]

I can hardly believe this, but the Transport Policeman to whom I reported my lost handbag has tracked it down!

Examining the CCTV recording , wonderful PC Gilbody saw a man board a train on another platform with my bag. This train stopped at two stations only, at one of which my bag was discarded! I collected it from Maidstone West yesterday! All the money gone, obviously, but diaries, notebook, phone, lipstick and cards all there. This is so superb. Fantastic. Today I buy the biggest glossiest thank you card for PC Gilbody!

Munch

Great news Angela. This goes a long way to restoring some faith in our under-staffed, overworked police officers, now bogged down with paper and office work.

I realise they will treat this offence as minor, but I can't help but wonder if they could not enlarge and enhance the image of this low-life piece of scum ??

Look how well 'Crimewatch' do with CCTV evidence.

God Bless Fiona, I say !!

[sejintenej]

I can hardly believe this, but the Transport Policeman to whom I reported my lost handbag has tracked it down!

Examining the CCTV recording , wonderful PC Gilbody saw a man board a train on another platform with my bag. This train stopped at two stations only, at one of which my bag was discarded! I collected it from Maidstone West yesterday! All the money gone, obviously, but diaries, notebook, phone, lipstick and cards all there. This is so superb. Fantastic. Today I buy the biggest glossiest thank you card for PC Gilbody!

Munch

Hoorah for PC Gilbody!!

What a relief! You must be pleased. I had my bag pinched out of a car in Gloucestershire years ago and I remember the feeling of violation, that they were rummaging through my things. Fortunately there was no money in my purse as I was on the dole at the time, but they were using my (cancelled) cards very quickly in Liverpool and Manchester. Ironically, and this shows that cheats never prosper, they had missed my mum's bag (which was underneath mine) and it had £200 in cash inside!! Yah boo sucks to you, Fritzy etc. Now I never leave anything visible in the car.

I had my wallet picked a few years ago. The first thing I heard was from HSBC bank. Someone had spotted that the person at the counter didn't match my profile - he fled. They checked and found he had got some money on another card from a particular branch of Barclays. Both banks had the man on CCTV and agreed to hold the tapes back.

Unfortunately the Met Police at Saville Row decvided that they couldn't be ratarsed because it might have happened outside their beat (though I know it happened between Liverpool Street in the east and Green Park in central London) so they point blank refused to accept notification. They refused to collect the tapes and they refused to tell me who to get a crime number from.

Do you think I trust the British police any longer; lazy barstewards.

Hardly my heros! One of them even demands that I do translations for him - free of charge!

[Katharine]

Best news of the day, Munch!!!

If you are anything like me (and having been in 6s there must be something there!!) you will be so glad to have the diary etc back that the loss of money won't matter so much - come to think of it, if you are anything like me there wouldn't have been that much cash there anywhere!!

[graham]

I believe Friday 13th has a connection to the Templars - the day that they were turned on/ burned out of existence by the French Monarch of the time was Friday 13th. Or something like that.

[marty]

This is all very interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th