My morning coffee went down the wrong way when I noticed the date.
The entire fifty‑kilometre drive to work was spent thinking and worrying about what might happen today. At the same time I ended up collecting a long line of cars behind me as I pottered along safely at eighty, avoiding accidents. The summer speed limits had already come into force, you see.
Is it really an unlucky day?
According to some studies, it’s actually safer than other Fridays. Fewer crashes and accidents are reported than on an ordinary Friday. However, more car thefts are reported then. So it’s worth just pottering along like a rolling roadblock. It’s rare for a car to be stolen straight while you’re driving it.
Be that as it may, many people are afraid of that date. I, too, always seem to take note of it.
You can start preparing for the grand misfortune at the latest when the first day of the month is a Sunday. That’s when Friday falls on the 13th. Every year the unlucky day arrives at least once, and at most it can occur three times.
However, it is likely that quite a few Finnish men (and women) remember the last time they experienced a Friday the 13th as anything other than bad luck. When it last happened on May 13, 2011, a completely new concept was launched for Finns;
AIRHOOK!
Granlund had every chance of failing in his incredible endeavour, right down to the date, but he still made it all the way to the final, with well-known results.
This unlucky date originally arose from the combination of two superstitious beliefs: Friday is a day of bad luck and 13 is an unlucky number.
Can we now draw the conclusion that all the remaining 362 - 364 days of the year are lucky days?
Let's at least hope so, just because of the success of the Finnish World Championship team.
Of course there has to be one exception to this as well. The French. In France, this day is not considered unlucky, and that’s just fine. They don’t know anything about the “airhook” move in hockey, and the Sun King brings to their minds something quite different than what the Sun King Tamminen brings to us Finns.
While writing this, the saying came to mind: 'Luck in misfortune.'
What is there left to believe anymore? I’ll withdraw to ponder this matter dressed in a safety jacket, and I’ll deliver my blue-and-white closing statement once Finland has won the World Championship gold.
See you in the square.
-Petteri Tirkkonen-