Thursday, November 08, 2007

Magpie

6.30am: Get up, write and send off a detailed proposal for fantastic new project that on its own would constitute half of my entire first-year revenue target for the new company I'm setting up. Woo!

7.30am: Wander into Hammersmith with the lovely Mr BC, source grande skinny latte from Caffe Nero. Mmm.

8.00am: Walking back to Shepherd's Bush, notice lone magpie hopping about conspicuously in Wingate Road. Think 'Nice try, magpie, but I'm having a brilliant day. Nothing could possibly go wrong.'

8.30am: Arrive back at desk, do some work, carefully prepare documentation for opening new business bank account, using the checklist the bank gave me on Monday. Everything is in order. Am very proud of self.

09.30am: Walk to Chiswick, arrive at bank.

10.00am: Leave bank. Apparently I can't open a business account today as I was given the wrong information by bank staff on Monday.

10.30am: Arrive back at desk to find that the detailed proposal I wrote and sent at 7.00am had managed to send itself as a blank email, so I have to write the whole thing again.

Bloody magpie.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Veronica has to do the whole saluting thing out loud three times when she sees a lone Magpie, so I am always on the look-out for them when we are trundling through Hampstead Heath. Enormous fun!

llewtrah said...

Next time shoot the magpie! They are no longer protected.

Anonymous said...

Grrr.

patroclus said...

Dammit Wyndham, I *knew* there was something I could do to counteract it, but I couldn't remember what it was.

Llewtrah: Hm, I could have shot it, cooked it and eaten it, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall style. Except I don't think I could ever bring myself to do any of those things, despite my hardy country upbringing. I wonder if anyone's tried eating a magpie. And if so, whether it was in a pie.

Bella: Quite.

Sylvia said...

By now, I am sure, you'll have sorted it all out......

Anonymous said...

I was unaware of any magpie-associated superstitions before I moved to the UK. In Australia, they're considered bad luck only at certain times of the year when their parental instincts kick in and they try to protect their young by swooping and occasionally puncturing the skulls of children with their razor-sharp beaks.

So if you find yourself in the presence of an Australian magpie between September and November don't bother saluting, just fucking run.

Tim F said...

Was your proposal shiny? Maybe the magpie nicked it.

Annie said...

Wyndham, am deeply superstitious about them too - I must know about the saluting thing - what exactly do you have to say out loud?
'I salute thee, oh Magpie'?

Unknown said...

bloody hell! I see magpies all the time. until now I had no idea I was supposed to worry about them. Curses.

patroclus said...

Albert: You only need to be worried about seeing one. The song goes: 'One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl*, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

* My mum used to say 'three for a letter, four for a boy', but that doesn't make any sense.

I'm not superstitious about anything other than magpies. The magpies have untold power.

Midnight Candle said...

Fascinating, all this. All new to me.