Harboring Confusion 200 Years Of Confusion
This is a while ago, but I remember mostly how the conversation played out.
I worked on Sydney Harbour cruises back in 1988, Australia’s Bicentennial Year. I had a boat full of USA tourists who were absolutely polite, kind, and tipped well. But one did ask:
Tourist: “How often do you have these Bicentennials? They’re really neat!”
After I laughed, I explained:
Me: “It’s a fancy way of saying it’s the country’s 200th birthday. It’s a big government-supported celebration.”
Tourist: “Oh. So, you have one every year?”
Tourist’s Wife: “No, honey, it’s a one-time thing. You can only have one Bicentennial.”
Tourist: “Well then, they need to vote for someone who lets them do it every year! We have a July 4th every year! You should too!”
Tourist’s Wife: “Honey, the USA had a bicentennial back in ’76, remember?”
Tourist: “We did? I don’t remember that.”
Tourist’s Wife: “July 4th, 1976, remember?”
Tourist: “I don’t remember.”
The wife looks at me.
Tourist’s Wife: “Carry on with your tour, honey. He’s fine. He doesn’t remember a lot of the seventies. It was all the acid.”
I carried on the harbour tour as normal, and I think the guy finally got it by the end, as he was super happy, they’d timed their trip for a once-in-a-two-hundred-year event, as he said:
Tourist: “Wait, so it’s gonna be another two hundred years before you have another Bicentennial?”
Me: “Y’know what? Close enough.”
