It’s Friday the 13th as I sit down to write this.
That’s what I call a very good sign.

Most

people have this thing about Fnday the

13th. But I liked that remark by the geologist
down at Mount St. Helens. Quoth he: “If this
mountain blows up on Friday the 13th, it'll set

science back 100 years.”

Of course, the mountam
did blow on the 13th,
spewing another wad of ash
over our friends to the south.
(I dunno. Has science been
set back 100 years?
Probably’d do it a lot of
good.)

But that’s beside the pomt.
I'm trying to make it clear
that buck is relative.

I was bora, you see, on a
Friday the 13th, October,
1941, at 1 o'clock in the
afternoon, which is the 13th

hour. Records aren’ kept
closely cnough to _ note
whether «tt was the 13th

second after the hour, but |
wouldn't be surpnsed

A huge percentage of the
best things thal cver hap
pened to me happened on
the 13th

When | was a teen person,
1 won a 7T- Eatons Art
Bursary | found out on the
13th

Wheo I was 13 years old. |
capenenced what | con
sidercd to be my first semous
hiss.

The first ume [ made love
was shortly before midmght.
ona ft 3th

My first paycheque was
issucd, I remember
distinctly, on a Priday the
1 3th

My feral novel was

pubblsshed on a tb jth
I won $10 at a gas stabon
bach when they were giving
1 3th
one of only two cash prizes
lve cver wonin my hfe
Ihe other was at
Newsman's Olnb.

out Coupons on a

the
bent
tery, and the aumber | won
with was) ) You gucased”

The day my Yugoslavian
freighter departed for
Europe on my first trip
Overseas as a young man was
Oct. 13, 1960.

I can think of any number
of times that I found a $20
bill on the pavement, got let
off on a traffic charge by a
marvellously well-mannered
cop, was allowed into a

BOB HUNTER, well
known during the 19705
as a writer specializing fo
eavirocamental subjects
for a Varncosver daily
newspaper, will be of-
fering readers bis
“Strictly Penonal” angic
on topics of every kind in
this anew Page A? column.
Letters to
readerm are
and shoatd be addressed
to him c/o Nomh Shore
News, 1139 Lomsdale
Avesue, North Vana.
couver, B.C. V7M 284.

parking space by somconc
who could have beat mec to
w06hCohhad the
trllantly when rain was
predicted, ran into an old
fnenad who owed me moncy
and could pay. saw the
Canadhan dollar drop just as
ac heque was ¢ oming in from
an Amencan pubhsher oon
had someonc call

sun = shine

up with

totally uncapected good
acws

All on the 1 Sth

And oof courac 1 cant
begm to count the Umes
when instead oof) | bcing

by Bob Hunter

3? Count me in!

maimed, ripped-off

or
killed, I was miraculously
spared — on a [3th. Take
today, for cxample. Not a
single wound.

The point is that the
aumber 13 has been horribly
maligned in the media, and I
simply cannot relate to it.
The Friday the 13th that I
was born on happened to
also be Thanksgiving Day. I
mean, figure it oot. Mom
never did.

The prejudice agaimst 13
runs deep — so deep, in fact,
that ancient  astrologists,
superstitious fellows no
doubt, actually ngged the
zodiac, pretending that there
were 12 constellations m-
stead of the 13 that there
really are.

Ah ha. Bet that teft you
gasping, didn't if

Yes. the 13th constellation
1s sandwiched 3 between
Scormo and Saggitanus It's
called Ophiuchus

Its exastence means that
everybody should really
Cher zodiac so signs
forward or back, [fm aot
surc wich But generally
speaking. cach Capnecorn
should become an Aquanus.
each Aquanus a Pisces. cach
Aircs a Taurus, ctc

1 suppose, depeoading on
your ponnt of vicw. that the
admission of a ith sagn to
the zodiac might be seen as
bad luck A Labran, hhe me
(mellow, balanced. good
looking and fair), could end
up as a dreaded Scorpio Of
course, Uhe Scorpos would
become Ophiuc hans

mave

eee

Not to worry

The is sinning
wind from Mount St
blew the other way
Somewhere ff hear the
Ant Saperstitton Society
held a mecting with }13
members present Phat's JOO
too many, but they dad goud

sun

Thi
Helens

LAW OFFICES OPEN

ANDERSON RUSH & LOCKWOOD

BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS

Kenneth J} Anderson

George B Rush

Esplanade Centre

8

; .

OFFICIAL OPENING of the Tourist Information booth at Capilano Road and Marine
Drive was held Monday. The first official visitors were three West German men on a
fishing trip. (Terry Peters photo)

things like opening um-
brellas indoors and letting
loose 13 black cats, so
they're forgiven.

Just now, | went into the

other room and asked my
daughter what “lucky things”
she could think of that were
somehow associated with me
and the number 13.

Quoth she, with an in-
dignant sniff: “Well, lam 13,
after all.” And so she is.

I rest my case.

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