No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 23
A work colleague has just come back from a European holiday.
Colleague: “I picked up a calendar in France because it had great pictures. Unfortunately, I can’t use it here because it will always be a day behind.”
Me: “What do you mean? Does it have a misprint?”
Colleague: “No, but it’s made in France.”
Me: “And?”
Colleague: “It only works in France! French time! Not New Zealand time!”
Me: “Uh… we have the same days as everywhere else, including France! We’re just twelve hours ahead.”
Colleague: “Exactly! So the calendar won’t work.”
She’s not getting it, so I ask her to open the calendar and pick a random day.
Colleague: “Okay… March 6th.”
Me: “And what day of the week will that be?”
Colleague: “In France, that’s Mercredi, so Wednesday.”
Me: “What day of the week will March 6th be in your local calendar?”
My colleague looks at the calendar on the office computer.
Colleague: “Oh… it’s also a Wednesday.”
Me: “And it will be on a Wednesday everywhere else in the world, it’s just some countries will start their Wednesdays at different times.”
Colleague: “Oh… I understand.”
I’m about to go “yay”, but…
Colleague: “So, the French lady gave me a New Zealand calendar. She must have heard my accent.”
Sigh… It took a few more attempts to explain. Turns out her mother thought the same thing; apparently, an old family friend in England used to send her mum a calendar every year for Christmas, but she would throw it out because it was “a day behind”.
Related:
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 22
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 21
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 20
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 19
No Fortitude For Longitude, Part 18
