The little things we do to stay lucky

I throw any spilled salt over my shoulder – but can’t remember how it’s done. So I end up throwing it over my left shoulder with my right hand and vice-versa. But then to be certain throw some over my right shoulder with right hand and left shoulder with left hand!

I don’t really believe in superstition but do tend to touch wood for luck, probably because so many others did when I was growing up. I use 13 as a lucky number in competitions because, if it comes up, I won’t have to share the prize with many others.

I walk under ladders and through scaffolding. I am not superstitious and I believe you make your own luck. Having an optimistic outlook is a big help, but if I do get a sense of foreboding I will change my mind about doing something. show my work colleagues. One of them said it was bad luck, but I just laughed. That night my boyfriend said it wasn’t the right time to get married. I was devastated. We did go on to marry a few years later, though, and were happily married for 46 years.

My mother said that you should not cut your nails on a Sunday seventy years on and I still don’t. I never walked under a ladder – and I was 40 years in the building trade.