Editorial: Mankind unique among creatures ... we're game for a laugh

Mark Dawson, editor of Wanganui Chronicle

IT was, of course, just coincidence that Easter Sunday happened to fall on April 1, April Fool's Day.

Easter being a moveable feast datewise, these things happen from time to time.

So we had religious solemnity vying with pranks for attention - the unknowable with the intangible, both seeking the plausible.

Walk shorts and socks back in Mangaweka

While across the Tasman we had the news that Sydney's Madame Tussauds was opening a special adults-only exhibition, 50 Shades of Wax, featuring nude waxwork celebrities, nationally there was the story of sheep being grazed on rugby's hallowed Eden Park as a prelude to a new lamb export business.

Locally, I was struck by reports that Mangaweka's Yellow Church gallery has sourced surplus civil service uniforms and is now trading in walk shorts and walk socks in attractive shades of beige, brown, cream and grey. Could this form of attire, de rigeur decades ago, be making a comeback?

The new tri-lingual River Road sign, complete with original Greek

Equally intriguing are plans for improved road signage on the Whanganui River Rd, with Greek transliterations of villages on the route among those to benefit from a new tri-lingual approach.

While arguments may rage about matters divine, it seems undeniable that the thing that really marks mankind out above all other creatures is his sense of humour.