What is it with the number 13? For Italians, 13 is quite a lucky number (I forget why). In fact, the number 17 is considered to be "a disgrace", so when my parents built their house at number 17, my grandmother was shocked! They're still there nearly 40 years later, so it can't have been too bad after all. However, the odd numbers in their street go straight from #11 to #15 because, apparently, no-one wanted #13. How many times have I stayed in a motel that has rooms number #11, #12, #12A, #14 ...? (Probably 13 times!) And what about the number 4, signalling "death" in Chinese culture? Our street numbers could end up incredibly creative if we could all pick and choose our addresses based on whatever superstition we decided to go with.It appears that some people go to great lengths to avoid 'unlucky' numbers, and Palmerston North is one place where this is not only possible, but actually legal! When my cousin and his wife found a specialist hospital for the upcoming birth of their baby, the clinic they chose seems to have an even more unfortunate address: 666 High Street. Gulp!
So, as I sit here this morning at #13, I figure that my luck is probably neutral: unlucky in Palmerston North, but lucky in Italy. I know where I'd rather be. ;-)
3 comments:
The dorm I lived in my first year at college was 14 floors..Well really it was 13 but they purposely skipped the 13th floor because they thought it was unlucky. And as you would guess, they made several urban legends out of it. I always got a kick out of it.
I've built an apartment block before with no level 4. It was in an area of Sydney with a lot of Chinese residents, and the developers didn't want to run the risk of having an entire floor of apartments they couldn't sell.
Yeah, the numbers thing is strange. I think 13 was considered lucky in my area because the Parliament building is made up of 13 everything!
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