Give us back our day!

In 1892, Samoa moved from our side of the International Date Line to America's side to align with American traders in California, an unintended effect of this being that it was 4th of July twice that year. Now, with almost as many Samoans living in Australia and New Zealand as the 180,000 who remain on the islands, the prime minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who switched the islands from driving on the right to driving on the left in 2009, has decided that it is time to adopt a time zone closer to that of its western Pacific neighbours. However, there's also tourism operators to consider. A great selling point for tourists and holiday-makers was that Samoa is one of the last places to see the sunset, but soon, it will be one of the first to see the sunrise (actually, the first place will be the Line Islands in Kiribati). Or, because American Samoa is keeping to a timezone closer to the States, visitors to the Samoan islands will now be able to celebrate the same day twice, by hopping between Samoa and American Samoa, which are an hour's flight apart. In essence, you can have two birthdays, two weddings and two wedding anniversaries on the same date on separate days without leaving the Samoan chain. So don't take this move the wrong way.