A Psychic Reading for Lady Jicky - Part 2.

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The Remorse of Orestes - Bouguereau

Confession time. I'm not a psychic. But you knew I would say that, didn't you?

The sequence of events over the last few days went something like this:

1. I have been reading "The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading" by Ian Rowland. Cold reading is the way so called psychics deal with people they have never met before but manage to get information out of them in a way that enables them read their pasts, predict their futures. (Although what I did to poor Lady Jicky was a hot reading; I already knew the information.)

2. Lady Jicky visited my blog. First time visitor, no idea who she was, but she started her comment with a familiar "Hi Lee". Did I know her? I asked Richard, one of my sons, "Is it one of your friends?" No.

3. Google search on "Lady Jicky" came up with a recent post where someone gave her birthday wishes. A wicked idea flickers to life. I convert the birthday to a horoscope sign and accuse her of being a Scorpio. She is understandably surprised.

4. I return to Google and look closer at "Lady Licky". It is unusual enough to be distinctive. Searching for a Betty, Jenny or, say, Melinda, would have swamped me with hits.

5. From the search I learnt her husbands name; that he smoked; how long they had been married; daughter's name; grandson's name and age; a dog's name (Oscar, a Pug x), hadn't found Rosie at that stage but found her later; a love of perfume; a love of Paris; a maker of cupcakes; a love of roses; that she does pastel drawings; that she still misses Lulu, a Pekinese; her real name; town she lives in. Not in one post but in bits and pieces over a range of posts.

6. Now comes the first lucky hit: after a busy day I post a cartoon from a reserve of cartoons kept for use on busy days. The perfume and computer content is a chance double hit. I wasn't thinking of Lady Jicky when I posted it but she saw it and scored it as two direct hits. Beautiful!

7. Using the information I have, I write a specific but vague psychic reading, interspersed with fluffy things. For example: I call Lady Jicky both generous and selfish, neat and tidy. Fluffy statements that sound sort of believable. I try to be vague about the reading, the U was just part of LU Lu.

8. Some absolutely stabs in the dark score direct hits! I guessed her car colour - blue is a good guess as it covers a wide range of shades. I knew she missed LuLu and guessed she would hav a photo in her wallet. It was not difficult to guess that Oscar and Rosie would watch her make cupcakes.

So, there you are. I am a total psychic fraud.

I must thank Lady Jicky enormously for being such a good sport.
You really must have wondered what you had walked in to!

Probably still do.
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