APRIL 14 - St Tiburtius Day – Spring is here (flooding in!)

The arrival of the cuckoo is the signal that spring has come (if it could be heard amongst the heavy rain storms!).

The cuckoo sings from St Tiburtius’ Day (today - Monday) until St John’s Day (24th June) – and as you would expect there is a superstition about this day … If you should hear the cuckoo sing on St Tiburtius’ Day, you should turn over all the money in your pockets, spit and not look at the ground! If you do this and are standing on soft ground when you do it, you will have loads of good luck. However, if you are standing on hard ground, the cuckoo’s call will mean bad luck!

The Highway Code was introduced today back in 1931! When it was first launched in 1931 there were just 2.3 million motor vehicles in Great Britain, yet over 7,000 people were killed in road accidents each year. Some things have not changed over the years: the very first edition of The Highway Code urged all road users to be careful and considerate towards others, putting safety first. However, other aspects of the code have changed considerably. For example, in 1931 mirrors were not even mentioned and drivers were advised to sound their horn when overtaking. Nowadays, advice on how to cross the road fills a whole chapter, but in the early days it only merited a paragraph. On the other hand, more than a third of the original 24-page booklet described the various hand signals the police and road users should use, compared to the single page given to the subject in the current edition. How times change?