Friday the 13th…
Normally that date strikes fear into a lot of people. Crazy superstitious people. I consider myself to be free of superstition. However, come to Thursday the 12th, now THATS a date to strike fear into my heart.
This January was no different.
It started off quite normally, I had arranged to view a flat closer to work before I was due to head off to Cardiff to visit my fiancés family. Nice normal stuff. However, just after we left in the car to go to view the flat, I received a text message from the people about the flat cancelling as they’d already let it out to someone.
A text message! Half an hour before we were due to view it! I was royally peeved off.
After that, my parents made a comment when we were at the rubbish tip getting rid of some old pc games that really threw me for six.
Mum – “is that our bear in the stuffed animal garden?”
Dad – “looks like it”
What had they done? Which bear? Oh.My.God!!! It was my giant teddy bear that I’d had since I was 18 months old. I always planned to give that bear to my own kids when I had any. Now I wasn’t gonna get that chance.
I spent the rest of the car ride in shock and with tears rolling down my face. I was upset that they hadn’t told me that they were getting rid of the bear. I was shocked because the bear was one of my most cherished childhood toys. And now? Now it was lying in a waste tip, soaking and unwanted.
To be fair, the fiancé did offer to go out to save my bear. But by this point I had realised it was too late to ‘save’ it. After I got home I swore about it some more, cried for about two hours and got angry with my sister because she sent me a photo of my nephew when he was a baby cuddling up to the bear.
I didn’t mean to get angry with her, I was just overly emotional. Eventually, when I had calmed down, I finished packing our clothes for our coach journey down to Wales. We left the house at about 10.30pm, reaching Hamilton for 10.50pm. Plenty of time to catch the coach. Right? Right?! Wrong!!!
The coach was due to leave Hamilton coach station at 11.25pm. Only, there wasn’t a coach station there. Its been undergoing refurbishment work for a few months so we had to try and find the temporary clash stop. After asking taxi drivers we went to one place. There was no sign of the temporary stop. Asked a bus driver, he sent us elsewhere again. Still no sign of the coach stop. We went round Hamilton a few more times, phones the customer service line for the coach as waited for it. It got to 11.35pm and I was seriously starting to panic. Phoned the customer service again and they told me that there were no delays to the service so it should have been there already. By this point my father decided to drive down to Carlisle to see if we could catch up with the coach.
There was no sign of it anywhere. We wet half way to Carlisle and back up again, no sign of it on either journey down.
Yip, Thursday the 12th can seriously kiss my arse in terms of luck. I think we have about 3 or 4 this year too. I may cry if the same thing happens in April.
Anyway, back to the coach. My father brought us back home and I phoned the customer service dept and spoke to a lovely girl named Kaidy. I explained the situation to her and she was entirely sympathetic, telling me that the issues in Hamilton had caused problems for a lot of customers.
By this time we were onto Friday the 13th so surely my luck had to change?!
Yes indeedy! I was offered two replacement tickets for Friday from Glasgow on a faster coach with more creature comforts inside it too. I graciously accepted the offer and went to sleep for the very few hours I had before the coach journey would begin.
So only a few hours later than originally planned, I eventually got to sit down in Whitchurch with the fiancés family to a few beers and some lovely Chinese food.
Friday the 13th isn’t so bad. It can’t be, it’s my anniversary with the fiancé. It’s just that damn day in front of it that causes me hassles.
Suzi Inspired 