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No sense getting extra day unless it's special one

Dear 2012: Welcome! OK, so I know you won't be here for another four days, but you have to understand a couple of things, sweetheart. First, I'm the kind of person who likes to get a bit of a jump on things. And second, we don't publish on Sundays.

Dear 2012:

Welcome! OK, so I know you won't be here for another four days, but you have to understand a couple of things, sweetheart. First, I'm the kind of person who likes to get a bit of a jump on things. And second, we don't publish on Sundays.

But as I was saying: welcome! Calendars everywhere have been heralding your arrival. Mine isn't up yet, but I have it close at hand. It has pretty pictures, like all the calendars of your predecessors - and there have been a handful - but it also has other things in common. January, I've noted, will continue to have 31 days, and April, one day less.

But February? Man, you're special, sweet 2012. You'll have 29 days.

As you may or may not know - and likely you do - this isn't something that happens every year.

Only once in a while do we calendar-watchers spot an extra day.

This means a lot to us, dear 2012. I may be boring you by telling you this, but most of us are hard-working nine-to-fivers. We multitask - if you know what that means. We drink our coffees on the bus on the way to work, and write our to-do lists on the way home. We can't live without our alarm clocks, not to mention our to-go mugs.

An extra day is nice. This year it falls on a Wednesday. But, of course, you knew that, didn't you, 2012?

That's all well and good - I guess. However, here's the thing, 2012: given that this extra day is a Wednesday, we ninetofivers aren't likely to see much, if any, change.

What's the point of an extra day, if it's a Wednesday like any other?

I humbly propose this, 2012. Let's call it something else. Let's call it Bonusday. Or Plusday. Or Ekstruhday.

Or Leapday.

It would be a day like none other. Not a day to ride the bus. And nor a day to do the shopping, the ironing or the ferrying of the kids to dance class.

On my Ekstruhday, I'd rather like to do something I don't normally do on a Wednesday or a Saturday.

Oh, I might just sit and look out the window. Or do Sudoku puzzles for four hours straight. Or look at all the pictures of my babies when they were one and three.

C'mon, 2012, you dear, sweet year, let's rename that extra day.

Otherwise, you're run of the mill - like that boring old 2011.