I am not a superstitious person and yet my wife is and got me thinkinig about the old poem/saying about magies - one for sorrow, two for joy etc.

As we live opposite a tree which is sometimes full of magpies or sometimes has only one (the problem - one for sorrow) this concerned her alot.

I asked her if the poem/saying mentioned a timescale for the observation of such creatures. She could not recall any timescale.

So re-frame - I have seen about 200 magpies in my lifetime, so far, and the next one I see will be the 201st.

Unfortunatley the poem/saying only goes up to 10!

Cheers.

Nick