Heather stays home on Friday the 13th

A woman who has had more than her fair share of bad luck on Friday the 13th put off going to work today to stay within the safety of her own home.

The Tauranga woman, who only wanted to be known as Heather, says she is not normally superstitious but she does take extra precautions on the inauspicious date.

"When things happen to you on Friday the 13th, it makes you think," she said.

She experienced two very similar car accidents involving roundabouts on Black Friday some years ago, which made it an ominous day for her ever since.

"I was on my way home from work and I thought 'Oh, it's Friday the 13th and nothing bad has happened to me.' Then I was coming up to a roundabout and slowed down and heard a screech and a car went in behind me. I got bad whiplash.

"A couple of years ago another car caught the front of my car near a roundabout," she said with a nervous laugh.

Heather deliberately put off returning to work until Monday.

"I was asked when I would like to go back to work and I thought I'd wait until the 16th instead of the 9th. I thought I'd spend Friday 13 at home. The coincidences make you think at the back of your mind, Gosh!"

However, Heather also enjoys challenging the conventional superstitions. "If I see a ladder I will walk under it just to push fate."

She also lives on 13th Avenue, but says that has only brought her happiness over the past 18 months and she doesn't view the street name as bad luck.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES