Today is Friday 13th, and because it’s February and not a leap year, this is the first of three Friday 13ths that we’ll experience this year. The next one will be in March, and then again in November. It’s the first time since 2015 that we’ve experienced three Friday 13ths in one year. Indeed, last year we just had one in June, and next year there’ll just be one in August – which will be the day after the likely date for A-level Results Day.
Friday 13th is seen as unlucky by superstitious people, although only since the 19th century, according to Wikipedia. In the early twentieth century, a book called Friday the 13th was written by TW Lawson, which may have popularised the superstition. The fear of the number 13 is apparently called triskaidekaphobia, and this is much older dating probably to the middle ages. The fear of Friday 13th specifically is known as ‘paraskevidekatriaphobia’.
I guess any mention of Friday 13th can’t go without a nod to the Friday the 13th film franchise. The film series alone runs to 12 instalments, from 1980 to 2009. I’m not a big horror fan so I haven’t watched any of them.
Almost all schools in England break up today for half term. So, these past few weeks have seen a stream of emails from various visitor attractions that we’ve previously visited, advertising various special events starting today. This includes the next major exhibition at the Science & Industry Museum in Manchester, which is all about space and based on the new Horrible Science series on CBBC. I guess we’ll be going to that soon, especially as the Power Hall has now re-opened following a six year renovation.
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