Forgot there was one more thing

In the whole Grew Up In The 80's thing, I forgot one more item which probably applies to all of us who went to missionary schools (no jokes please) of the Catholic denomination.

We would cross ourselves whenever we heard sirens. It didn't matter if it was from a fire engine, an ambulance, a police car or any other siren sound-making device, and it probably started with some of the nuns that taught us, but effectively the entire class of 42 little girls would stop whatever they were doing at that moment and cross themselves whenever sirens were heard.

It was a minor form of superstition because to us, a siren means that someone is in trouble and could be dying. So we have to cross ourselves for their sake. One cross per siren. Which could be incredibly disruptive when you have a major incident somewhere and a police car passes by followed immediately by a fire truck and an ambulance. There's a flurry of activity and hands are whisking everywhere to touch little foreheads and shoulders and chests.

What are you all doing? Can you please stop it? Said a teacher who obviously did not share the same sensibilities.

That, and all of skipping every 13th step of every staircase that we walked down. We were not alone in this - I recall for a while some buildings actually skipped the 13th floor. They'd call it the 14th floor or something. So the buttons in the lift wouldn't have a button for 13 and people wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable with the idea of such an unlucky floor existing in their building. What a bunch of freaking oddballs we all used to be.

Plus all the ground floors used to be "G", and the first floor after that would be "1". Because G denoted that the floor was on the GROUND, whereas the first floor had to be 1 storey up.

What are you all doing? Can you please stop it? Said the Building Control Authority.