Today is 9 December.
The word "noon" originally meant the ninth hour of the day (which was roughly 3pm, nine hours after dawn).
Nine is also the number of:
gallons of saliva secreted daily by
an average horse;
hours it takes an army ant to walk
a mile;
milligrams of rat droppings
allowed in a kilo of wheat in the US.
"The Book of Numbers" by William Hartston is now in the shops at pounds 9.99, published by Richard Cohen Books.
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