Live on the wild side; walk over three drains!

As I was walking through my home town of Peterborough earlier, I walked over three drains. Whilst I took these steps, I began to ponder on why it is deemed unlucky to walk over three drains. Following this, I kept an eye on all of the cracks in the pavement (there were many), and I began to ponder too on why it is deemed unlucky to walk on crack on pavement.

I’ve never really thought much about superstitions until today; they’ve just been something I’ve been brought up with. Who ever you talk to, there is likely to be overlaps in examples of bad luck superstitions. The only superstition I recall my mum believing in was that one shouldn’t walk over three drains. So, being an obedient son; for many years I took measures to avoid walking over three drains, as who wants to be cursed with bad luck from something that can be so easily avoided?! If I noticed a set of three drains, I would walk around. If I failed to notice until I was already stepping over the drains, I would often quick-step off of the drains as to miss the second/third drain, saving myself from bad luck. In other instances, if I had already walked over the drains, I would then make sure that I would walk over the next three, as to make me feel as if I had somehow counteracted the superstition. Whether these methods have been accepted by the superstitious community, I’m not sure, but it gave me comfort!

After years of avoiding drains, I then decided that the superstition was ludicrous, and there was no need for me to abide by it. Yet so many people live their lives with superstitions dominating nearly their every move. Personally, I think superstitions are greatly outdated in the present day.

So, how did superstitions come about in the first place? I’m not entirely sure, but one can stipulate. When many of the common superstitions are listed, most can be rationalised into practises that could lead to a negative event occurring.

Walking over three drains – Someone must have fell through a manhole before, therefore making three drains appear as a triple threat.

Walking over cracks in the pavement – Who hasn’t tripped from walking over a crack. It’s not the gods, but instead because the unnoticed fault in the path has meant that the front of your shoe gets stuck at this fault, causing you to fall as the rest of your body continues to have forward momentum.

Walking under a ladder – Someone at some point probably by accident hit a ladder whilst walking under it, therefore meaning the ladder fell on them. Alternatively, the person who hit the ladder may have been unharmed; if there was a person on the ladder at the point of impact, it’s likely that an injury was caused.

Breaking a mirror – sharp glass! You might cut yourself on the sharp edges, or if hastily cleaned up, there might be fragments left which could result in a piece of glass lodging itself in the underside of your foot. Ouch!

Finding a horse shoe – This, unlike others I’ve noted is supped to bring good luck. Probably because an equestrian was the person who found it, saving he/she the purchase of a horse shoe.

Opening an umbrella inside – I have quite a large umbrella, yet I’m not sure of its exact measurements. Therefore, when opening my umbrella, I make sure I have sufficient room around me as to avoid any damage to another person or object. The origin of this superstition is likely to lie in the hands of an inconsiderate person who opened his/her umbrella in a small area, causing a vase to fall from a cabinet… or something along those lines.

Black cats walking across a road – Witches are in the neighbourhood, need I say anything more?!

What I’m trying to make clear is that superstitions are likely to have originated from either unfortunate events, fortunate events, or from inconsiderate people putting aside common sense. Then, publicised through word of mouth, degrading in context over time, until all that is left in the anecdote is the very beginning.

All you really need to do is the following: make sure that you keep an eye out for drains which look to be risky if walked over. Keep an eye out for cracks in the pavement as adjust your stride accordingly. Don’t walk under ladders as you could very easily hurt yourself/someone else. Make sure you keep a close eye out for shards of glass after cleaning up a broken mirror as it’s very easy to miss a piece. Praise all that’s holy if you find a horse shoe because now you only need to buy three instead of four. Don’t open an umbrella inside unless you have a leaky roof and cannot move elsewhere to avoid the drips. Be extremely wary of black cats and the owner who has a pointy black hat.