7th of April 2004
In a desperate bid to prove to me that Horoscopes can in fact predict the future, one of my colleagues decided to read my Horoscope to me. She opened the paper and then asked me
"What are you thinking is likely to happen in your immediate future. What are you likely to be doing in the next day or two?"
Straight away I knew She'd picked up on something that could potentially make the Horoscope look plausible, but I trusted my logic so I answered truthfully.
"Going home to see the parents."
"And how are you going to get home?"
"Er, in the car..."
It was obvious there was some form of reference to cars or driving or travelling in the Horoscope. She then read it aloud for everyone to hear.
"Don't underestimate your need for a good nights sleep and a proper meal, when you're on the spot and have to think on your feet you'll need to be sharp and have your wits about you. The hustle and bustle of crowded streets and more traffic to navigate through threatens to put you in a sour mood as you'll likely face delays in getting where you want to go to."
--Russell Grant's stars, Cambrian News Thursday 8 April 2004.
Well of course this was taken to be indisputable proof by the (entirely female) crowd at the table. I allowed them to lap up their "victory" for a short while and then put forward a very simple point.
"It's Bank holiday weekend. Of course there is going to be lots of traffic."
This seemed to deflate them somewhat, but they were still trying to convince me that Russell Grant was somehow able to look into the skies and tell me, and the other 12th of the population who were born in the sign of Taurus, what was about to happen in my immediate future. So I made the point that, if the stars told people all about my life, then how come the two different Horoscopes they had read me from different newspapers could contradict each other. Surely if the stars are determining my life the two Horoscopes should be the same, or at least similar, or vaguely alike...certainly not exact opposites.
I also pointed out that the other Horoscope was ridiculously vague. One line was "you must either build walls, or tear them down". So that sentence applies to 100% of the entire population. As does "Don't underestimate your need for a good nights sleep and a proper meal, when you're on the spot and have to think on your feet you'll need to be sharp and have your wits about you." from Russell Grant's stars.
Anyway all of this has made me think. It would make a very interesting experiment to try writing my own predictions in the style of a Horoscope of what is to happen in the following week. Then seeing how accurate I am.
I fully plan on implementing this, just as soon as my new website is ready to go live. Watch this space.