6 Feb 2021

It’s a fairly common theory that bad luck comes in threes. But boy does the internet go to town about bad luck and threes. Apparently: There’s not only bad luck in threes but ‘deaths come in threes’. Three candles burning in a room is bad luck and three knocks in the room of a dying person is a harbinger of death. Breakages and tipped over glasses of water come in threes. Three butterflies on a leaf is considered bad luck as is hearing an owl call three times. Then there is the disheartening saying for any woman with many sisters or close female friends: three times a bridesmaid, never a bride.

So there we go. Three is bad. Got it.

Our state is undergoing our third bad luck event at the moment. The first two were obviously a virus lockdown, and the second was the bushfire. The third is the impact of a low pressure weather system that has worked its way down the coast leaving towns with floods and road damage from all the water.

Of course – the second of our three is very much looking forward to our third. A good dose of wet weather will sort out the bushfire. A bit too late for all those people whose houses burned to the ground, but still.

So if bad things come in threes, what else do we need to look out for? I remember that breaking a mirror was going to bring seven years bad luck. Apparently this one came from ancient Romans who believed that your entire life renewed itself every seven years – health and luck all renewed – and your image being the last thing on a broken mirror meant you had to start at beginning of the seven year cycle again. Or something like that. If nothing else, breaking mirrors is expensive – don’t do it.

Depending on how quick your ‘bad luck in threes’ goes through, you’re probably still ahead of those suffering seven years of bad luck. Unless your three are really really bad. Even worse maybe than a broken coffee machine, or a bad haircut.

Anyway – that’s bad luck. Let’s move on to good luck.

Apparently a bird pooing on you is a harbinger of good luck, and you should immediately buy a lottery ticket. That’s gotta be the most dramatic bad luck/good luck scenario, although to be honest I’ve never heard of anyone winning the lottery after being baptised by a pigeon. And we had a bushfire for many years who left little gifts on us frequently – I honestly can’t tell you whether there was a beneficial follow on effect from this. The bird looked happier.

Four leaf clovers, horseshoes, fluffy dice, and rabbits foot are all good luck charms. Unless you’re a rabbit.

The old phrase “find a penny, pick it up, and all day long you’ll have good luck” would be especially true if the penny you picked up was a 1943 bronze Lincoln penny which apparently that could be worth a pretty penny – lots and lots and lots of pennies. Or dollars.)

Do you rush out and buy a lottery ticket if a seagull pings you? Have a good luck charm that you keep close by? Just in case?