Once upon a time there was a house in which 4 people lived. It was a happy house, full of laughter and intellectual conversation. Occasionally the inane chat was disrupted by the a discussion. Every now and then these discussions would become somewhat heated. Take for instance the curious topic of "Cabbage, Cabbage, Car"*. An innocent enough discussion you might think, but when you have two arrogant mathematicians in the household it can easily get messy!
Well here comes the crunch... On one hot summers day (It probably wasn't hot and it certainly wasn't summer, but I'm sprinkling some fairy dust here!) we were having a conversation about Lent. A certain young lady asked a simple question "How long is Lent this year?". Well as you can imagine the young arrogant scamps looked at each other and laughed... "Well we guess it's 40 days, it always is!"
"No, when I was young I gave up chocolate and it was definitely longer then 40 days!"
"But it runs Tuesday to Sunday... That's always the same amount of time. It can't change from year to year."
"What about leap years?"
"Still Tuesday to Sunday."
The conversation continued. Suffice to say it ended less than fantastically. Said lady thinks that said men thinks she's stupid. Said men are split down the middle, one knows his girlfriend is going to be upset, other probably doesn't mind too much but assumes he is right.
Well it's coming on to two Lents later... The young lady is married and has a gorgeous daughter. One of the men is married to that gorgeous lady. The other said man is curled up in shock trying to fathom out the meaning of this link.
The conclusion, in short, is this...
Diana... I am sorry. You were right.**
You see... I can say it. It took a lot of inane writing, but I said it. I almost feel better. Who'd have thought it - Lent, 44 days.
Would you like to reconsider giving up Crunchies now??? It's not just 40 days you know!
*Cabbage, Cabbage, car is another, very long, story! Ask Diana.
** I am unreservedly sorry, but in a way we were right, the length of Lent never changes. Why two post grad maths students couldn't count to 44 is however, beyond me!
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