EARLIER this week the General Manager presented me with a penny she had just found in our driveway.

She said she hoped it would bring me luck.

I had never heard this saying.

The GM explained some people reckon picking up a penny brings them luck but she believes giving the coin to someone else allows luck to be shared or transferred.

I pick up pennies people have discarded or simply lost, but have no reason to think the habit has brought me luck.

Picking up pennies can actually be dangerous. If walking with your head down looking for pennies there is a risk of bumping into a litter bin or lamppost. It’s not worth gaining a few pennies if you ultimately end up in an accident and emergency unit waiting for stars to stop spinning around inside your head. Going back to the GM’s gift of a penny, I read yesterday about a new poll which has identified a Top 10 of superstitions.

In first place is the belief that walking under a ladder can be hazardous. To me this is not being superstitious — just common sense. There is always the possibility a worker could drop a pot of paint.

I am puzzled by some superstitions and how they started to gain credence. For example, how many years or centuries passed before a link was made between bad luck and putting new shoes on a table?

It cannot possibly have started when three pals met in a house of refreshment and simultaneously said: “I came home yesterday, put a new pair of shoes on the table and then found a note from the wife saying she had run off with the milkman.” Another strange one is the thought that opening an umbrella indoors is unlucky. Why would anyone want to do that in the first place? You wouldn’t shake off raindrops inside the house and the width of an opened umbrella would make it awkward trying to get out the front door.

In closing, I dearly hope questioning some superstitions does not bring me bad luck - touch wood.