Friday the Thirteenth and All Things Silly

If anyone asked I'd say Im not superstitious.

My mother is. As a child I wasn't allowed to put new shoes on the table, to open an umberella in the house and when I accidently broke a mirror, I thought my mum was going to have a coronary. There was something abut doing laundry on a certain day as well but I cant quite remember which day it's supposed to be.

So I walk under ladders, tip salt without a backward glance and believe all cats are evil not just black ones.

The fact that my results are due on Friday the Thirteenth means nothing to me. But it seems it does to everyone else. I've had the following conversation numerous times

When do you get your results, it's soon isn't it?
Yep, the 13th, next Friday
Friday the 13th??
Uh huh
Oooh, wouldn't want mine then - thats unlucky
Not really, it's been marked already, the exam board meet Tuesday, I just get the letter Friday
Yeah, but Friday the 13th.....

Fear of Friday the 13th even has a name - paraskevidekatriaphobia. Or friggatriskaidekaphobia. Deep christian beliefs have us fearing Fridays and the number 13, put the 2 together and double whammey - lock the doors, stay in bed or you will die....

Thirteen is significant to Christians because it is the number of people who were present at the Last Supper (Jesus and his 12 apostles). Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was the 13th member of the party to arrive. Christians have traditionally been wary of Fridays because Jesus was crucified on a Friday. Additionally, some theologians hold that Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden fruit on a Friday, and that the Great Flood began on a Friday. In the past, many Christians would never begin any new project or trip on a Friday, fearing they would be doomed from the start.
Some historians suggest the Christian distrust of Fridays is actually linked to the early Catholic Church's overall suppression of pagan religions and women. In the Roman calendar, Friday was devoted to Venus, the goddess of love. When Norsemen adapted the calendar, they named the day after Frigg, or Freya, Norse goddesses connected to love and sex. Both of these strong female figures once posed a threat to male-dominated Christianity, the theory goes, so the Christian church vilified the day named after them.
This characterization may also have played a part in the fear of the number 13. It was said that Frigg would often join a coven of witches, normally a group of 12, bringing the total to 13. A similar Christian legend holds that 13 is unholy because it signifies the gathering of 12 witches and the devil.

But ok, I will admit it, looking through the superstitions on the net, I realised I do sort of follow some. I did let strange women wiggle needles and wedding rings on cotton over my pregnant belly to tell me the sex. I do the magpie thing - If I see one, I look for another because one's unlucky. I count groups of them and recite the song

one for sorrow

2 for joy

3 for a girl

4 for a boy

5 for silver

6 for gold

7 for a story of love untold

and I do the ambulance/hearse thingy too

turn around

touch my toes

hope I never go in one of those...

But thats because Im silly

So Im curious, what strange unexplained superstitions do you follow. And don't say you don't cos I won't believe you. Think, you must do at least one silly thing...