Wednesday 2 May 2012

Beg Steal or Burrow

It's that first insecure Wednesday. Things should be OK this month because I woke up shortly after midnight yesterday morning and before I said anything else I uttered the magic word "RABBITS". I know that some folk say white rabbits but I believe that this weakens the spell. Of course some of you will have no idea of what I talking about. I hesitate to use the word superstition because that makes it all seem kinda - well - nuts. An old English custom of saying "rabbits" on the first day of the month was drilled into me by my mother. If at some point during the next four weeks I dropped some china or failed an exam (regular events) she would sigh and shake her head resignedly saying "It's you own fault - you didn't say your rabbits." All I could do then was to cling on - expecting to fall at each hurdle until the next 1st of the month. As the broken china, failed exams, missed buses, lost boyfriends and publishers rejection slips piled up in  the hallways of my life, I guess I often forgot to say "rabbits". 


When I had my own little bunnies I decided that I would never impose this type of insecurity on them. That was until my ex husband bought the first pair of baby shoes and put them on the table. I had to divorce him to clear the curse although for years he clung on by saying "Good morning Sir" to the magpies just to please me. Believe it or not when we split up, the removal men dropped my mirror but I told them to pack it with his stuff so that he would take the bad luck with him. 


So, having said the magic word I clicked on my Amazon KDP account to see if the new month brown bar of doom had disappeared. As you will recognise comrades, my sense of personal worth is linked to my sales figures. As the new month arrives the counters return to zero and there is just this brown nihilistic line. (Ooooh - I've been trying to get that intellectual word into something for years!) 1st of May - 0004 hours, a sale was made. I slept secure. By morning two books had been returned. The brown line had gone - but I am less than nothing. As I drove my bus around the town there was not a single magpie to greet to lift my gloom. A seagull dumped his entire bowel contents onto my windscreen and I shouted at it to F*** off. When I got home I had made some sales. Yes - that old mystic seagull oath never fails.


It's all a load of tosh isn't it. My wonderful partner works and works to help me and he has never thrown salt or said rhymes to spiders. He tells me that more effort means more success. He's a kinda business type. I know he's right. That's why I've doubled up on my lottery tickets.


Emma thinx: You can make your own luck, but the ready meals taste the same.



9 comments:

  1. Loved the posting today and the story rabbits on the first of May. My grandpa was very superstitious.

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  2. Wow, wish that mystic seagull oath worked on this side of the pond - I'd be rich, famous, and very well-published by now. :)

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  3. Oh that is funny, I had a teacher in high school who used to say rabbit rabbit on the first of the month and got all of his classes to do it too!
    -MJ here from the support group http://creativelyspiltink.blogspot.com/

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  4. Great post. Superstitions are so much fun - until they start turning your hair gray from worry.

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  5. Emma--what a great story about the rabbits on the first of the month. I've never heard of that before. I bet I'd be a lot like you, eagerly awaiting the next first of the month so I could be sure to say my "rabbits" in hopes of having a better month!

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  6. You could have told us this on April 30. Now I have to wait an entire month and lord knows how much could happen between now and June 1. Cheez.

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  7. Intersting idea for the blog hop. I have a superstition that comes form India: If you re-enter the house just after leaving it (because you forgot something, someone called you back in, etc), then you need to sit down for a moment. This stops bad luck from leaving the house with you.

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  8. Oh those sticky superstitions. They get so ingrained into us as kids that as adults we keep doing them or avoiding them even thought we know it is not logical.

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  9. I never heard of the saying "Rabbits" before. Every culture has some kind of superstitious beliefs. It is funny to know those things. What might be the origin of those beliefs?
    Thanks for visiting my blog Emma

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Thanks so much for stopping by. Always so happy to get your feedback. Emma x