Tuesday, April 1st was a day like any other.
I woke up to hear my alarm clock, also known as the dulcet tones of mummy dearest telling me precisely how much work I hadn’t done in the last couple of days.
I put some bread in the toaster. So far, so good. I switched on the radio, to hear the beautiful voice of Atif Aslam singing ‘pehli nazar mein.’ Lost in thoughts of Saif ali Khan and I dancing on an island, I failed to notice that the toaster was toasting my toast far more than I had desired.
I saw a flash of bright orange.
Was it fireworks, to celebrate our glorious jodi?
Nope. The toaster had caught fire.
After another scolding from my mother, I waltzed to my computer to check my e-mails.
“ Congratulations! You are user number 16482947! You’ve just won £1,000,000” –delete.
“Hello. My name Roshan. Please marry me.” –aww how sweet! Delete.
“BBC News: flying penguins discovered!”*
Now this caught my attention. I immediately logged onto BBC iPlayer (no, they haven’t paid me for this), to see the wonder that was flying penguins. Sure enough, there they were, flying from the Antarctic to the tropical rainforests.
My day had been made. After spending a couple of happy minutes reflecting on the joys of evolution, I remembered my lunch date with a friend in Central London, and hastened to the train station.
Sandwiched between a Shahid Kapoor look-alike (*sigh*) and his girlfriend who had decided to exchange their declarations of love over the top of my head, I distracted myself by reading the paper that is a necessity for every commuter: the Metro.
‘BMW develops revolutionary technology, the Canine Repellent Alloy Protection, that can zap 200 volts of electricity into dogs who urinate on car tyres.’
Ah ok.
What?!?!
And then it clicked. I noticed the acronym of ‘Canine Repellent Alloy Protection’. And I remembered the date.
I was heartbroken. I had been April fooled. But more importantly, there were no flying penguins in the world.
So what was the best April Fools’ prank/joke that you guys fell for?
*link to flying penguins: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/epeng001.shtml?src=ip _potpw