Childhood's End

'Childhoods End?'
Childhoods End was an Arthur C. Clarke novel concerning a race of beings that had grown from its infancy and ascended to a higher lever of evolution. It was a theme that he was to develop further in his classic 2001, A Space Odyssey.

Childhood's End itself served as the inspiration for the Genesis track Watcher of the Skies from 1972's seminal Foxtrot.
'Magpie'
A superstition holds that there are various portents depending on the number of magpies seen at any one time. A common version is below, but there are many differing versions around.

One for Sorrow
Two for Joy
Three for marriage
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret,
never to be told
Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss
Ten for a bird
you must not miss