January 13 is a weird day to have a birthday.
Not much happens on January 13. Some people have gone back to work. Some haven’t.
It’s also a bit dicey, birthday party-wise. There are always a couple of friends who still haven’t returned from Bali and a few more who’ve decided now would be a good time to quit drinking.
World events-wise, it’s quiet. Most houses of power aren’t sitting and the celebs who are going to die during this period did so during Christmas and New Year. In fact, I can’t recall anything of national or international significance happening on my birthday.
But I wanted to be sure. So I asked Google to read out the scroll for January 13.
Google: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah… Trump was impeached for a second time on January 13, 2021?
Me: That’s the best you’ve got?
Google: In 2003, Tony Blair said he believed "passionately" that Saddam Hussein must be stripped of his weapons of mass destruction. And the year before that, George Bush fainted after swallowing a pretzel.
Me: I guess the pretzel’s something.
Google: Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen was born in 1911.
Me: I share a birthday with Sir Joh?
Google: Also with Paul Kelly – the musician, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Orlando Bloom.
Me: That’s a strong case against astrology.
Google: You need to take into account their rising sign as well, Adam.
Me: I know that! You know I know that!! What about actual events?
Google: In 1962 an outbreak of smallpox spread throughout Britain and 20 years after that a Boeing 737 crashed into a bridge, hitting five ships and killing 78 people, on the Potomac River in Washington DC.
Me: That’s terrible.
Google: In 1942, James Joyce passed away during an eye operation in Zurich, Switzerland.
Me: Has anything good ever happened?
Google: Henry Ford patented the plastic car in ‘42.
Me: Wasn’t Henry Ford a Nazi?
Google: It’s Saint Hilary's Day, traditionally the coldest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
Me: You’ve run out of puff haven’t you.
Google: How dare you! Sunrise will be at 6.12am.
So there it is. January 13 – a great festival of nothingness.
JANUARY 13 - A QUIET DAY TO BE BORN
Happy festival of nothingness mate. Loving your posts.
Okay here’s what your getting from me. I’ll join up my Gmail address to The Kicker so you feel more popular and I’ll upgrade this membership to paid so you feel more rich. Go well Adam. Loved the Kicker this year.