Luck and I seem to be sworn enemies. As you read on, you will understand why.

As I stand in an interminably long queue at passport control, shifting from one foot to another and kicking my hand baggage ahead inch by inch to relieve my aching arms, I wish I could get a break. Why do some lines never seem to progress while others seem to move ahead rapidly? How do I know this? Because, as a keen observer of humankind, the faces I see standing to my left and right change frequently. One minute they are there, the next they’re gone. And here I am in the exact same spot.

I can see some counters are not manned and wish whoever is on a break will return soon. As I think this, I suddenly see some people behind me rushing out of the queue, making a beeline for a counter that has just opened. Now, is it fair for an opening like that to occur the one second I take my eyes off the unmanned counters?

In a Carrefour branch some years ago, I came to know they were picking shoppers at random who would not have to pay for the contents of their trolley. Unfortunately, I do not have a large family to shop for so my purchases were rather insignificant.

For a brief moment, I thought of throwing caution to the wind and filling my trolley with whatever caught my eye. I imagined being stopped as I made my way to the cashier and being told that today was my lucky day.

Good news

Not being the kind of person who likes to tempt fate, I bought what I had set out to buy and a few extras. Just in case. As I strolled towards the cashier points, I looked around trying to spot anyone who looked like they were going to stop someone.

Then I saw a person right in front of me with a laden trolley being stopped and given the good news. This is cruel, I told myself. Couldn’t this have happened somewhere out of my line of vision so that I wasn’t made to feel bad?

Or what about going to one’s favourite store in a mall and being informed their massive sale had ended just the day before? One would think frequent shoppers would be venerated.

Having learnt my lesson, I now ask for my details such as phone number and email to be noted down. However, my favourite shops seem to have stopped their tempting offers. Or maybe (horrid thought), as soon as they realised that letting someone like me loose in their shop during such special promotions would negate the very purpose of such an exercise, they decided to keep me in the dark.

And sometimes the early bird catches the worm, which can be quite a disgusting experience. On a holiday in Europe some years ago, on reaching Heathrow airport to catch a flight home, I was informed apologetically that they were overbooked and would I mind flying the next day? To sweeten the pill, they offered me £1,500 (Dh8,637) or so.

The friend who was seeing me off told me to jump on the offer, which I did. However, I was told to hang around and check again after an hour or so. So, we went to a coffee shop and planned how to spend that money. As the hour came to a close, I got up to get an update. My friend kept telling me not to be in a hurry but, foolishly, I didn’t listen. Sure enough, I was given the news that I could board. And our plans for a gourmet meal went up in smoke.

So, I have learnt that luck is a fickle thing. Although that doesn’t prevent me from living in hope.