Here's the thing

My wife and son have now officially gone back to the States, and I've moved into a dorm room on campus. This, needless to say (but I will anyway), has been a tough week. Not only did we have to deal with the actually packing of household goods - something that was done wonderfully and skillfully by the good people at Robinson's - but I've also had to deal with dropping them off at the airport.

Knowing that it would be tough, I took the opportunity last Monday to stock up on a little good luck. As anyone who has read this blog even cursorily will know, I used to ride the bus to work. For the last three weeks there had been 8 pence scattered on the ground in the street near the stop where I catch the bus. I know this because every day I would count it...not really for any reason other than to pass time...it's always interested me to try and notice how small details change in our daily lives, and the movements of these coins was no different. Buses running over them, heavy rain or wind, cars passing by...all of these things would move these coins around from day to day. Every day I would arrive at the bus stop and try to find where they were and how they were different from the day before...all the while trying to figure out what forces had moved them, and in almost every case being amazed at the fact that the coins were still there - I was sure that some student would have picked them up at some time or another. Anyway, on Monday of last week, the last day I would ride the bus to work, I found the coins and picked them up myself - like I said, I was trying to stock up on a little good luck. It may be superstitious, but if there was ever a week when I knew I would need all of the luck I could get, it was this one...