GOOD LUCK

I don't consider myself to be particularly superstitious but am surprised at some of the daft things which some people believe.

Here are a few which, like a black cat, have crossed my path recently.

Breaking a mirror will bring you seven years of bad luck.

It's obviously unlucky, or at the least careless, to have broken a mirror but seven years of doom seems a tough price to pay. Luckily one can apparently take countermeasures. It is thought that either grinding the shards of broken mirror glass into powder, or touching a gravestone with a shard will undo the bad luck. Phew! That's OK then.

Touching wood will ward off bad luck.

Except that knowing my luck I'd get a splinter in my finger.

Opening an umbrella indoors will bring you bad luck.

This is a bit tough if you work as a tester in an umbrella factory. There are various myths surrounding this. One tells the tale of an ancient Roman woman who opened her umbrella indoors just before her house collapsed. I'll save the others for a rainy day.

To wrap this up, I'm grateful to Jamie Frater for this list of even dafter superstitions:

1. A bird in the house is a sign of a death.

2. A loaf of bread should never be turned upside down after a slice has been cut from it.

3. Never take a broom with you when you move. Throw it out and buy a new one.

4. If the first butterfly you see in the year is white, you will have good luck all year.

5. If a black cat walks towards you, it brings good fortune, but if it walks away, it takes the good luck with it.

6. An acorn at the window will keep lightning out.

7. A dog howling at night when someone in the house is sick is a bad omen.

8. It’s bad luck to leave a house through a different door than the one used to come into it.

9. A horseshoe hung in the bedroom will keep nightmares away.

10. If you catch a falling leaf on the first day of autumn you will not catch a cold all winter.

11. If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.

12. Dropping an umbrella on the floor means that there will be a murder in the house.

13. All windows should be opened at the moment of death so that the soul can leave.

14. If the groom drops the wedding band during the ceremony, the marriage is doomed.

15. To dream of a lizard is a sign that you have a secret enemy.

16. If a friend gives you a knife, you should give him a coin, or your friendship will soon be broken.

17. You should never start a trip on Friday or you will meet misfortune.

18. Dream of running: a sign of a big change in your life.

19. If a clock which has not been working suddenly chimes, there will be a death in the family.

20. It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match.

Well "fingers crossed" none of these happen to us.

HOW TO HAVE A HAPPY EASTER

This Easter (2011) looks set to be a very strange one. Those crowds of people who have set off for the coast with their expectations and hemlines raised will have something to contend with which is very rare for the Easter holiday - warm sunshine.

Indeed today is Good Friday and as I write this I am having to try to avoid letting sweat drip onto the keyboard. Oh sorry. Were you eating?

Good Friday is so called because it really means God's Friday and it has some rather strange superstitions attached to it. I will relate these to you in the form of a few Dos and Don'ts.

1. Do give birth if at all possible. Your child will have the gift of healing and this should see you right in your old age.

2. Do bake cakes and make bread. They won't go mouldy.

3. Do lay eggs (if you are a chicken that is), for they will never go bad.

4. Do keep a hot cross bun in your house until it goes hard. This will protect your house from fire and save on the cost of smoke alarms.

5. Do have your hair cut. Apparently, this will prevent you from having toothache for the rest of the year. Of course finding a barbershop open on Good Friday could be an issue.

1. Don't plant crops. Under no circumstances should iron be put in the ground or there will be dire consequences.

2. Don't do laundry or not only will you wash away your family but the clothes which you hang out to dry will be spotted with blood.

3. Don't set off in a fishing boat - you will have bad luck unless you have a stale hot cross bun with you in which case you will at least be protected from shipwreck.

4. Don't wear an entire outfit of old clothes because if you wear nothing new, dogs will spit on you and birds will peck your eyes out.

5. Don't say I didn't warn you.