Sun, 4 Apr 2004

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today's instant vacation...

I'm sending you a special iv today because it's a holiday. The iv section will explain this, including the Australian emphasis in the quote and sigline. Read on!

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quotation...

"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas." - Former Australian cabinet minister Keppel Enderbery

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 =^..^=  =^..^=  =^..^=   
Rob Loach in Greenville SC

Vanity license plates seen in Australia:
CROOZAH (on a Land Cruiser)
GDAM8  (which reads: G'day, Mate!)
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Bonza Bottler Day

Bonza Bottler Day is an excuse to have a party. Bonza Bottler Day happens every month when the month and the day are the same number:

1-1 (January 1)
2-2 (February 2)
etc.

The person whose brain child is Bonza Bottler Day is Elaine Fremont. Most of you didn't know her, but she is a people person loved and missed by many since her homegoing almost 10 years ago. As a "people person," she loved to get people together for a party. She decided that there simply weren't enough holidays, so she came up with a new one - Bonza Bottler Day. She even had it registered in Washington D.C. as a recognized holiday.  She asked her friends to come up with a name for the day and a mascot. A student from Australia gave her the idea of Bonza Bottler (bonza and bottler are both Aussie slang for "excellent"), and the groundhog is the mascot since 2-2 is Groundhog Day here in the US. Elaine's one concern, though, was that it be alcohol-free, and she included that in the description of the holiday when she registered the holiday.

I recently did a Google search for "bonza bottler day" and found over 700 websites where it is listed as a holiday. Most people have captured the "excuse to have a party" aspect of the holiday, but I found none that mentioned the founder's stipulation about its being alcohol-free. Alas, I guess one could expect something like that - just look at how people are trying to kick Christ out of CHRISTmas and at how Easter is more about chocolate, colored eggs, and new clothes than Jesus' resurrection from the dead!

Anyway, I just thought you might enjoy learning about Bonza Bottler Day, even if it's too late to do anything about it this month. You can, of course, celebrate it May 5, June 6, etc. Today is actually an *ultimate* Bonza Bottler Day - 04-04-04. The next one of those will come 05-05-05. To me, this was just a good excuse to send a special iv! 8-)

Elaine's family has put up a special official site about the holiday at http://www.bonzabottlerday.com