My name is Ari, and I always thought that horoscopes were total bullshit. Things to read and believe in for people who can’t be bothered to take control of their own lives.

I went to a cafe last week Monday to go and get a nice heavy, fatty fried breakfast to take the edge off of starting the work week.

There were two office ladies having a good long natter about the ins and outs of their weekends, shopping, kids and the latest Netflix series that had everyone talking online. I was bored enough on this particular Monday to tune into this stream of whirling intonation whose banal details would otherwise pass me by.

Then they got into the subject of horoscopes, picking up the newspaper on their table to check and see. I rolled my eyes back far enough that they rolled directly into my sleep deprived headache.

“What sign are you”

“I am a Libra my dear, you should know that!”

“Well I know your birthday, but your on a cusp so it’s hard to know.”

“I forgive you.”

They laughed

“Okay tell me”

My offended ears perked up because I too am a Libra. An automatic reaction, even though I know that horoscopes are total rubbish.

“Listen carefully to the soft voices around you and you’ll hear things of great value”

At this vague point I tuned out, wiped my mouth and got up to pay my bill and leave. Leaving them to warble on about their horoscopes and uneventful weekends.

I turned right out of the cafe and made my way along the street to go through Portland square’s lovely green. It was already a pretty warm morning in the summer so things were busy with workers and early birds out to enjoy the heat of a long summer day.

As I went past the benches, I passed close by the backs of two people having a conversation.

“Yeah, I’m going on my lunch break. To Colin Narbeth and Sons in Soho. On their website they have this original Wells Fargo issued American Express railway bond. They have a few but this new one I think it’s wrongly identified and it’s very rare.”

I knew the shop. Opposite the esoteric bookshop in Farriers passage, near Trafalgar Square. I went there to buy a Trillion Dollar Zimbabwean note when I decided to start collecting banknotes on a whim.

Of course I’m not superstitious or anything but I decided to call in to work saying I’d be late so that I could go and satisfy my curiosity.

To cut a long story short, I went and bought this new bond having looked on the website. I paid £400 for it and then studied up on it for the next few days. Apparently it had a misprint and was the only one in that run of bonds. It had passed through the actual hands of J.P Morgan, referenced in his biography. As luck would have it, I sold it at auction for £740,000.

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Before selling this bond I had been going back to the cafe every morning, reading that same newspaper. All of the headlines, stories and details were identical but the horoscope kept on changing.

The second time was relatively uneventful.

“Prepare to accept little speed bumps in your day on Saturday”

And that Saturday I lost my car’s bumper over a large speed hump. That was more than irritating.

The third day was no better, although it’s was fun.

“you align with your wildest passions, which you may find ignites a fire in your belly”

I couldn’t think of anything that I had felt wildly passionate about for a long time. Though I did love a good craft beer, so after work I decided to meet one of my old work friends at the food market next to the river.

The guy at the beer tent was an old school friend. He was working there for his friend and it turns out he was also running his own company that made sauces and they had just been picked up by the burger chain Honest Burger. He reached under the bar and gave me a bottle with its nicely designed label. The label read ‘Dalston Chillies’.

As he handed it to me, he said ‘that’ll put some fire in your belly mate.’

I couldn’t help but think of that day’s horoscope. So I went back the next day to see what was in store, and to take this withered paper clairvoyant home.

Sitting for my normal breakfast, I finished up and picked the paper up to take it out with me. As I got to the till to pay, the cafe’s rotund owner took my cash, looked at the paper tucked under my arm, smiled knowingly and said “it doesn’t leave.”

I smiled sheepishly and said “of course, sorry.”

“It’s ok” he said. “Why don’t you check today.”

So I did and it said “today is your final day.” I looked up at him with desperate eyes and he maintained his warm smile.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t always mean the end you are thinking of. But it could do, so walk carefully and savour everything you can today son.”

I left fearful and dejected. But remembered those words and as I walked away I drew a large breath of air taking in every smell. Letting all the sights and sounds of the city penetrate my senses.

I looked up at the old buildings that lived above the shop fronts.

Whatever was going to end today no longer mattered as I savoured the present more attentively than ever before.