We’ve decided to make today National Excuses Day (#NationalExcusesDay, #NED). We’d like you to help us celebrate it every year on 25 May. If you can’t make it, what’s your excuse? If you can make it, well, what’s your excuse? Please tweet your WILDEST WHOPPER, your TALLEST TALE, your most EXCRUCIATING EXCUSE, your JUICIEST JUSTIFICATION, your MOST NAKED COVER-UP, your BIGGEST BARE-FACED LIE! Tag it with #NationalExcusesDay @railwaylandpress and we’ll send a prize to the best one we see.
Come on, get it out of your system, then for the rest of the year you can avoid them, because they’re not very nice things to carry around. The dog ate your homework? The dog copied your homework from your friend and popped it in your bag without telling you? Your alarm didn’t go off? Your alarm went off but you thought it was Saturday? You were washing your hair? You were washing your dog’s hair? Your hare ate your homework?
Remember, if you’re going to make an excuse, make it a big one. Where can you learn the biggest excuses? Well, from the biggest people. Maradona was not very big, but he was one of the biggest stars in football. When he scored for Argentina against England in the World Cup, he claimed it had been the Hand of God. That’s what I call an excuse. When tennis player Lighton Ndefwayl lost a match, he said it was because his jockstrap was too tight and his opponent kept farting. That’s not quite so big.
Sometimes, the more excuses you make, the less convincing they become. That’s what happens in our picture book, Castle Barmy. Doom the Magician stands on the battlements of Castle London reading a long list of excuses for having run off to enjoy a picnic at Castle Barmy while everyone else was locked up with their families:
“I was trying out my new horse… I was visiting my brother… I was feeling poorly and needed some fresh air… I was practising my latest spells… I was looking to see if the Dragon had gone yet… I was testing my eyesight…”
Castle Barmy
The more excuses the children hear, the less they believe them. So, they decide to teach the adults a lesson. Have you read Castle Barmy yet?
If not, WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?