Who's been sitting in my seat?
Mt Albert resident Anna Farrell went to the movies at St Lukes. Seating places were allocated at the box office, and when she went into the cinema, the only other people there were all in the back row. Because she likes to sit in the centre, she sat three rows down. Absolutely no other seat in the theatre was occupied. Minutes later, a late-comer asked her to move because she was in his allocated place.
Origin of spooky things
1. Friday the 13th: There's a word for the fear of it: triskaidekaphobia. The superstitions are less concrete. One theory traces it to the Last Supper, attended by 12 apostles and Jesus, and the fact that the crucifixion traditionally took place on a Friday. The combined fear of Fridays and the number 13, however, didn't really take hold until the early 20th century, when Thomas Lawson published a book called (surprise) Friday, the Thirteenth.
2. Flying broomsticks: Broomsticks became associated with flying because of witches' "flying ointment", a potion made up of various hallucinogens, like the fungus ergot that grew on rye. Since ingesting the ointment orally led to a host of unpleasant side-effects, witches chasing a high supposedly used the broomstick to administer it through, well, other areas. Apparently, it felt like flying. (Via Mental Floss)
