I’m trying
to make sure I get this written and published well before the 21st.
I’m pretty certain it won’t be the end of the world, but I want to make sure
there’s still plenty of time to do some serious eating, drinking and being
merry should things start to look at all portenteous...
If it does happen,
I’m going to be incredibly pissed off. Because Friday 21 is also my last day at
work until January 2 and, apart from weekends, I haven’t had a day off since
the end of August. For the world to end just as I’m about to start an 11-day
break would be irritating to put it mildly.
My
employers are also counting on it being a normal day, because they’re insisting
we’re not going to be let out early, apocalypse or not. Admittedly, they’re
making what for them is an extravagant gesture by getting us all pizza for
lunch, but that doesn’t seem like an end-of-the-world gesture. Mind you, if it
turns out they’ve got us Waitrose pizzas I might start to worry again.
The myth
debunkers, meanwhile, have been trying to calm us all down by likening the
Mayan calendar to one of our own, observing that we don’t all start panicking
towards the end of December each year when we notice there seem to be no days
after the 31st. The fact that
next year’s calendars have already been in the shops for at least six months
and that most of us receive at least three, plus a couple of desk diaries, for
Christmas is, however, a fair indication that another year is generally expected
to follow.
Perhaps it’s
all down to a delay caused by the Mayans still working on their next 5125-year calendar which, let’s
face it, is going to take a lot of work, especially as there are a lot fewer of
them than the last time they had to put one together. That goes double if they’re
doing it a page a day and, unlike last time, they’ll also need to ensure they’ve
cleared copyright on all the pictures they’re using.
