It is now 12:01 as I write this and throughout the suburb, there are fireworks popping off; much to the distress of my cat Micah who has decided to hide underneath the couch in the front parlour. To your and yours, slàinte agus bliadhna mhath, et cetera and custard.
Of course for me, this is not New Years' Day at all but rather, a point halfway through the year when the second quarter ends and the third quarter has begun. To that end, as far as I am concerned, every year always contains a slash and this has been 2023/24 for six months now.
"Wait; what?" I do not hear you say, since this is a text post and you as the reader are somewhere in the future relative to me. "But how can that possibly be?". Well dear reader, every year always contains a slash and evermore shall do so and has since at least a hundred years ago, always done so.
As an accountant, the year that I operate under begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. You might like to call that the "financial year" but seeing as money is the only empirical measure of value and time is money, then that point seems to be as good as any other. In fact, Australia and New Zealand (hey bro', chur), Bangladesh, Kenya, Egypt, and most states in the United States but not federally, all keep July 1 through June 30 as the fiscal year.
The accounting program that we use at work, is an even more bonkers thing. We have set up the system so that there are 40 days in a month and 20 months in a year. This means that the day immediately before January 1st in our system is actually 40/10/23. The day immediately before July 1 2024 will be 40/20/23.
However, just because the financial year matters to accountants and the Tax Office, does not mean that it matter to anyone else. Or does it? Sports fans have long held the notion that every year always contains a slash as well.
Australia 318 & 262 def. Pakistan 264 & 237.
This was the result in the Second Test between Australia and Pakistan in the current Test Series between the two nations. Typically a summer of cricket in Australia begins in late October and ends in about March. This means that this Test between Australia and Pakistan occurred in the year 2023/24.
Likewise, the English football season began way back in August and will end in May. Liverpool who are currently top of the League on 42 points (and in theory have avoided relegation) have only played 19 of 38 games. Winter does not a season make and I have seen enough seasons to know that unless it is mathematically impossible for anyone else to win the league, it is always too early to write a season on. Every football season contains a always contains a slash and this has been 2023/24 for five months.
Laugh if you like but remember that it was Pope Gregory XIII for whom the Gregorian Calendar is named, who decided to muck with the calendar to make January the first month when up until 1583, it was March which had been the first month.
(Aside: You can try remove Catholicism by spraying about some Anglicanism but generally speaking you get a bit of Protestant sludge behind. If you do have an infestation of Popes, a few Anglican Archbishops will see them off, and then you can get rid of the Archbishops by moving them diagonally. The weird thing about having an infestation of Popes, is that they don't breed; so nobody knows where they come from.)
So yes, while you're all celebrating the New Year, I will be contemplating the second half of a year which already began in July, and also wondering how to get rid of the Archbishops in the attic.
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