I got a text this morning from a friend – who was due to give birth in a couple of months – saying that the baby arrived last night. How dramatic! And the poor wee thing – no doubt there would be huge health problems with a baby so early. I texted back saying congratulations and wishing them all well.

Then I got a text back from her:

Haha, April Fool!

Bugger. I hate being caught out by such things.

I was more prepared, however, when a completely different friend texted later in the day with a picture of an ultra-sound scan. It was a convincing forgery – a very typical ultra-sound image of an unborn baby, and even with his wife’s name photoshopped in the wording at the top of the screen.

Hah! I was all ready for what was obviously the joke du jour for this April Fools. I texted him back, pouring scorn on his feeble attempt to trick me. But…

Oops. He texted back. It seems he wasn’t joking. Congratulations really were in order this time.

It’s so hard to know what to believe and what not to believe on April Fool’s Day…