superstitions and coincidences

It's the thirteenth once more. And what's more it's also Friday.

"Paraskevidekatriaphobia" seems to have its roots in early Christian neuroses about Fridays and the number thirteen but as no-one can ever come up with a definitive excuse for it, I'll continue to look on this day and all other Fridays which fall on the thirteenth day of the month as one of those numerical coincidences which should be celebrated as occasional happenings which just brighten up our lives.
I love it when I go to bed at around twenty-past ten and my digital alarm shows 22.22. Even better if I awaken at 5.55 and know I've got another hour in bed! Or the time recently, when I filled my car up with petrol and it took 19.57 litres (the year I was born). I used to have a car which had a registration plate with the same numbers as my phone number in a different order.
As I said, just coincidences but they do cheer me up.
Sometimes I really do need these little things to make me feel better as the bigger picture around me is often black.

I'm going along to a vigil this afternoon in the centre of Glasgow. It has been organised by the Glasgow Feminist Network to mark the recent murders of three women in this city. Glasgow has resurrected its reputation as the most violent city in Britain and is way down there with any in Europe.
Recently, in a block of flats two minutes walk from where I live, there were two murders on consecutive weekends and on one of those weekends another resident from the same block was killed at another location. Murder no longer makes front page news in even the local papers and often goes unreported at all.

Life's not all doom and gloom though. Summer has arrived here in Scotland after being reported absent since 2006. I'm managing to make the most of it getting out cycling, taking photos, camping and feeding midgies. (Anyone who has been to the West of Scotland in summer will appreciate that last one.) I've just had a week off work and actually managed to not think about it, slept well and had a relaxing time. Appreciating the simple things in life can be so fulfilling.

I've just sent off an application for a new job. Changing career is something I promised myself I'd do when I turned fifty but got caught up in a busy life so didn't get round to making the first step.
Who knows, one of these days I may even meet someone I can share all the good things in my life with and even fall in love again. Don't hold your breath for that one though!

I'm also plant-sitting. One of my friends has gone back home to Sweden for a couple of weeks so I've got his house plants. It's nice to have some unfamiliar plants around for a while. Having to think about taking care of his plants (I'd hate anything to happen to them while they're in my care so I'm extra conscious about watering regimes) is making me more aware of the greenery that I share my living space with. Not that I neglect my own plants. It's just that mine seem to thrive despite me taking them for granted most of the time.

So, until the thirteenth of next month or something extraordinary happens, remember the words of Meher Baba immortalised in Bobby McFerrin's song:-

"Don't worry, be happy".