AH yes – the full bottle, the lustrous ruby red glow of February winks at us through the crystal decanter. Well … we warmly welcome the shortest month of the year and simply hope that those who were born on that elusive date of Feb 29, remember that this year is a Leap Year.
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ANY sane person would assume that, for example, if you were born on Feb 29, 1976, you would be looking forward to celebrating your 32nd birthday on Feb 29 this year.
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BUT not so, since Feb 29 occurs only once every four years – you will be a bouncy eight years old. Looking at our friends, who are nudging 32, we confess that viewing them as eight-year-olds stretches credibility – but that’s the situation. Make the most of it, Feb 29-ers and try to age gracefully.
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TALKING about ageing, we were tickled by this little piece from Spy the Ancient Scribbler in Madang. It seems that the Madang Wall Newspaper, otherwise known as the Butchery notice board, and compulsory reading for those who wish to keep up with the pulse of the town, has for some time been sporting an ad reading “One-day-old chicken”.
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SPY cackled down his new mobile that he had the greatest sympathy for this lonely orphaned bird and for the days relentlessly slipping past; which poses the question of when the calendar begins to tick over for a “one-day-old chicken”. Now had the poor bird been born on Feb 29 ...
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AND so it goes on – first, K25 million for the parliamentary committees to do their work in style will be approved, despite a nation-wide outcry; now the latest little extra to be pinned to PNG’s annual bill will be five new ministries, valued at some K3 million a year. Wonder what million kina political proposals will come next?
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THE increased ministry is obviously an expense generated by the need to keep the many one and two-man parties glued to the NA-led coalition and has little to do with running PNG more efficiently. How many ministers are needed to run a country of six million people? Cheers!
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- Dee Nesenolis