A thought for this Tuesday 13th

Today is Tuesday 13th. Yeah, yeah, I know. It means nothing to those of you who haven’t lived in Spain. Tuesday 13^th here is the same as Friday 13^th for you descendents of anglo-saxon hordes.

Friends have been hinting at it since the beginning of the month. “It’s going to be Tuesday…” and they look at me, hopefully expecting me to rip the words out of their mouths. But I kept on not getting it. “…13^th” they added. And there should be a thunderclap, a smoke bomb, some evil cackling hag in the background. But alas, no. Only my slightly raised eyebrows seem to wonder why on earth they expect this Tuesday to be different to any other one.

And it just dawned on me. Every Tuesday is unique. Every Monday. And every Wednesday. Whether 13^th, 23^rd, or whatever magic whole number between 1 and 31 you may wish to choose. They are all irreplaceable, unrepeatable. Herein lies the true magic of the question. Today things will happen that will never happen again and that have never happened ever before. It’s exciting, without being unbelievable. Here lies the absurdly simple beauty of this daily magic which we ignore or take for granted. Every day is an adventure. If you want. Of course, if you don’t, it seems appropriate to fear change.

On one Tuesday 13^th years ago, my horse-riding instructor (yes, I’m obnoxious, I know), just to screw us around, made us dismount letting go the reins and allowing the beasts their freedom and pirouetting out of the saddle. I remember being scared of spooking the horse and being killed by the fall. I did the pirouette. For years I believed simply that nothing had happened. But the calm serenity of the horse was part of a small miracle. I lost my fear of experimenting.

I am going to sleep now. Later, I shall go down to the lab: the world.