Is it the countdown to e-day, Euro 2008, or possibly the forthcoming general election? Evidently, the EU logo and another logo reading “L-ewro flusna” (the euro is our currency), give it away, but what about the numbers? They certainly do let your imagination run wild…

The photos of the two clocks (taken in Marsa and Kappara yesterday morning) were recently set up by the National Euro Changeover Committee (NECC), in collaboration with Bank of Valletta, to mark the countdown to e-day, 1 January 2008. A third clock is expected to be set up at City Gate in Valletta this evening.

It is evident that the clocks, at the time the photos were taken, had not been set accordingly. One of them reads “104:4:23:33”… (104 days, four hours, 23 minutes and 33 seconds) – close to e-day, but not precise, because 102 days remained for e-day yesterday.

The second clock reads “272:9:29:27” (272 days, nine hours, 29 minutes and 27 seconds): a little calculation gets us close to the beginning of the Euro 2008 competition, which starts on 7 June, but in fact this countdown takes us right to 19 June. Now, now, could that be election day? Nah, by that time it will be over and done with, we believe.

Again, we appreciate the fact that the countdown to e-day has not yet been officially launched, but why will we never change?

Was it not possible to leave the clocks blank until the time came for the countdown to be launched?

Let us just hope that tomorrow, when the countdown officially starts during a media conference, the exact days and hours that remain until e-day will be displayed.

Let us hope we get it right.