But, this near-win was a portent of things to come. Later in the week I won a box of biscuits in the co-op instant win promotion and £200 in a local charity raffle. If luck runs in threes, I must have been odds-on to win the lottery on Saturday. But as it doesn’t, it made not a jot of difference.

Quite helpfully, the co-op assistant offered to go and get me the biscuits there and then. Unfortunately they were out of stock. Coincidently, I was there the following day and a customer next to me won a box of chocolates – of which they were also out of stock. Hmm … Could it be that the winning prizes are only items that are out of stock, just to encourage people to revisit (and hopefully buy more stuff). Or am I cynical?

I’ve been teaching this weekend – two full days, so have a tired voice (though this is not helped by a bit of a chest infection). How proper teachers can get through a week and still have a voice left at the end of the week is beyond me. You know how much I like coincidences, so imagine how excited I was to find that one of the students lives on the housing development built on land once occupied by my great-uncle’s house (and where one of the roads is named after him).

Ten working days to Christmas. Christmas cards still to be written, and presents to be wrapped. And maybe a few more to buy. I was going to write the cards on Friday – but then remembered that I hadn’t got round to buying any yet! Two Christmas meals this week, and another two next week. Hopefully someone has a note of what I ordered, as I can’t remember.