13 Months

Today my friend P picked me up in his '75 VW Bug and we drove to the
Swiss Cafe for coffee. We were also joined by an old friend of his, Dr.
T. The two men have been working in the tourism industry for more than
30 years and it was interesting to hear them talk about attracting
visitors and what Ethiopia has to offer: 8 UNESCO heritage sites,
world-famous coffee, the various tribes in the south, and so on. They
also reminded me that Ethiopia's tagline is "13 months of sunshine",
which refers to the 13 months on the Julian calendar which Ethiopia
observes--12 months of 30 days plus a "13th month" for the remaining 4
or 5 days during which New Year's is celebrated, in September on the
Gregorian calendar.