All tourists know that feeling – what day is it, or alternatively, where are we today.
So we can understand why Barack Obama had to ask the dean what date it was as he signed the visitors’ book of Westminster Abbey. But what made him think it was 2008?
My guess is that 24 May 2008 has some special significance for him.
Actually, these days it’s very easy for all of us to be unsure of the date, now that we have to write it so much less frequently as so many of our transactions are automatically stamped with the time & date.
But even in the days when you did have to write it out for yourself, it was surprisingly easy to make a slip over the year – especially in the first weeks of January, but at other times too.
We once had a cheque returned, marked simply RD with no guidance at all as to where the fault lay. After the immediate panic – have we run out of money? – we checked & rechecked.
Signature – yes
Words & figures agree – yes
Date – yes
So what on earth was going on?
Eventually we spotted the problem – it was years out of date, long past the time when the electricity company could have presented it for payment. 1952.
Neither of us could assign any special significance to that year.
