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DUMMY1/sn37_0008.wav|1|And the weather forecast isn’t much better.....” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0010.wav|0|She couldn’t miss it really, because there was a photograph of Dad’s brother, Jeff, whom the family liked to called The Wicked Uncle because he was totally irresponsible. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0013.wav|0|The article said that he was sharing a box at the races with a Russian tycoon whom he had met by chance on a yacht. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0014.wav|0|Mum sighed. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0015.wav|1|“Some people have all the luck. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0016.wav|1|Jeff seems to live a charmed life... |
DUMMY1/sn37_0020.wav|1|it’s always fun to know in advance what sort of a day you’re going to have.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0021.wav|0|Mum’s star sign was Libra, which was supposed to mean she was very fair and even-minded. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0022.wav|0|In fact, Mum thought that her star sign gave a very accurate picture of her character. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0023.wav|0|The stars seemed to describe all her family. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0026.wav|0|So as soon as she had finished reading today’s, she immediately wished that she hadn’t. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0027.wav|0|It said: |
DUMMY1/sn37_0028.wav|1|“The best thing you could do today, is to stay in bed. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0029.wav|1|All the stars and planets are opposed to you. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0030.wav|1|Mars is waging war on you, Sagittarius the archer’s firing her arrows at you, Venus has deserted you, and Taurus the bull is charging you with its horns. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0031.wav|1|Quite frankly, even staying in bed isn’t a fully safe option. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0032.wav|1|Better hide UNDER the bed and stay there until after the weekend.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0033.wav|0|Mum stood up crossly and tossed the newspaper in the pedal bin. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0035.wav|1|I can’t hide under the bed. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0036.wav|1|There isn’t room!... |
DUMMY1/sn37_0037.wav|0|“ she exclaimed “Oh my stars! |
DUMMY1/sn37_0040.wav|0|And all day Mum was very careful not to cut herself with a kitchen knife, not to drop a weight on her foot, and not to leave the kitchen whilst anything was cooking in case a fire started. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0041.wav|0|But even so, everything seemed ten times more difficult than usual. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0042.wav|0|She ran out of caster sugar, she burnt her quiche, and she put too much mustard powder in the french dressing. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0049.wav|1|“You’re nothing but Bad Luck!” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0050.wav|0|While Mum was bravely overcoming every obstacle that cruel fate threw in her way, Dad was also having one of those days. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0052.wav|0|There had been an accident on the flyover, and the police were investigating. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0053.wav|0|They were painstakingly picking up every fragment of glass, labelling it, and putting each one into its own separate plastic bag. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0054.wav|0|And to make matters worse, Dad was desperate to go to the loo. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0055.wav|0|As he sat at his wheel fuming and sweating, he called the office to give them an update. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0056.wav|0|A policeman tapped on his window. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0057.wav|1|“Excuse me sir, don’t you know there’s a law against using your mobile phone whilst driving? |
DUMMY1/sn37_0058.wav|1|And by the way while we are about it, your front wheel is on the yellow grid. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0061.wav|1|That will be two fines in one.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0062.wav|0|And Dad had to get out of the car, show his driving licence, and answer all sorts of questions while four policemen examined his tyres and searched his boot for lethal weapons. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0065.wav|0|he thought as he turned on his computer. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0066.wav|1|“It’s Friday the thirteenth. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0067.wav|1|I should have called in sick.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0068.wav|0|But Friday the thirteenth, which is supposed to be an unlucky day, had been just fine for Jeremy and Jemima at school. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0069.wav|0|Jemima had a swimming lesson – which she loved – and Jeremy was just glad because it was the end of the week, and on Saturday he would be playing football. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0070.wav|0|When they got home though, they found that Mum was frantically searching for her car keys. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0071.wav|1|“I’m having a bit of a day,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0072.wav|0|she said, sounding like she was having a nervous breakdown. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0073.wav|0|Jemima knew it would be best to stay out of Mum’s way. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0074.wav|0|Even Rudy was hiding in the coat cupboard. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0075.wav|0|But Jeremy asked: |
DUMMY1/sn37_0076.wav|1|“Have you looked in the kitchen drawer?” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0077.wav|1|“Of course I have. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0081.wav|1|“Don’t just stand there, help me” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0083.wav|1|“And mind you don’t drop anything. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0085.wav|0|Ten minutes later, Mum was gone, and Jeremy went up to his room to program his website while Jemima went to tell Rudy that it was safe to come out of the cupboard now. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0086.wav|0|Then Jemima went upstairs to put the finishing touches to her school project all about Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. When Mum got home she kicked off her shoes, put her feet on the sofa and said: |
DUMMY1/sn37_0087.wav|1|“What a day. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0088.wav|1|Thank goodness it’s over!” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0089.wav|0|But it wasn’t. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0091.wav|1|“But I just delivered it,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0093.wav|1|“Not to here you didn’t,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0094.wav|0|exclaimed the voice. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0095.wav|0|And after quite a bit of arguing, Mum realised that she must have delivered the food to the wrong office. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0096.wav|0|Some greedy office workers had accepted her snacks and were now celebrating the end of the week with a free feast! |
DUMMY1/sn37_0097.wav|0|While the real party was going on without any food. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0098.wav|0|Mum had wasted her time and money, and at the end of it all, she had lost a customer. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0099.wav|0|And if that wasn’t bad enough, Dad arrived home looking totally fed up. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0101.wav|0|The breakdown van towed it away to the garage, and he came home by bus. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0102.wav|1|“I don’t think I can keep on at this job,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0103.wav|0|he said. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0104.wav|1|“Ever since the office moved, I spend all my time getting there and back.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0105.wav|0|And to top it all, Rudy the cat was sick; |
DUMMY1/sn37_0106.wav|0|Not just sick but had diarrhoea - and not in any old place, like out in the garden or on the kitchen floor but in Jemima’s bedroom, and not just in Jemima’s bedroom, but all over her project on Queen Cleopatra. There was a terrible scream from the top of the house |
DUMMY1/sn37_0107.wav|1|“Oh my goodness, what’s happened?” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0108.wav|0|exclaimed Mum. And then it was followed by a long heart-felt wail..... |
DUMMY1/sn37_0109.wav|1|“My Project !!!!!!!!” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0110.wav|0|Poor Jemima. She had worked so hard on her project. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0112.wav|0|And she would have to miss her ballet class on Saturday and her swimming lesson on Sunday. But at least Jeremy was OK. Nothing had happened to him. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0113.wav|0|He was happily working on his computer until way too late. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0116.wav|0|she asked. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0117.wav|1|“Do you think our family’s cursed? |
DUMMY1/sn37_0118.wav|1|I mean, we always seem to have bad luck.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0119.wav|1|“Don’t be silly,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0122.wav|1|There’s no such thing as a curse or bad luck. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0123.wav|1|Things just happen sometimes, that’s all.” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0124.wav|0|But Mum didn’t sound at all convincing. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0125.wav|1|You see, she did believe in bad luck. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0126.wav|0|And in the morning, when Dad slipped on some sick the cat had made in the night, and landed in a heap on the kitchen floor, she couldn’t hide her true feelings any more. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0127.wav|1|“Listen kids,” |
DUMMY1/sn37_0128.wav|0|she said as she helped a badly shaken Dad up to his feet, |
DUMMY1/sn37_0129.wav|1|“I know this sounds a bit spooky, but we had all better be extra careful this weekend. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0131.wav|1|And that really scared Jemima. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0134.wav|0|And Jeremy thought that was absolutely hilarious. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0135.wav|0|He was still laughing about it as Dad drove him to the soccer fields. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0137.wav|0|Fortunately his luck seemed to be in. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0138.wav|0|The other side had some great shots at goal, but Jeremy leapt, stretched and dived and kept the ball from crossing the line. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0139.wav|0|The score was nil – nil until, ten minutes before the final whistle, his team’s defender tripped up the other side’s striker. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0140.wav|0|The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0141.wav|0|The centre forward was about to take the penalty. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0142.wav|0|He placed the ball on the spot and considered the goal. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0143.wav|0|Jeremy reckoned that he was eying up the top left corner of the posts. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0144.wav|0|His opponent ran up and struck the ball cleanly with his boot. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0145.wav|0|Jeremy sprang through the air like a ballet dancer and just reached the ball with his little finger. |
DUMMY1/sn37_0146.wav|0|As he landed on the muddy ground he knew that he was the hero of the match, but oh, his little finger was hurting. |