2016 LEAP YEAR 

29^th February 2016

Once every four years there is an extra day at the end of February - a little oddity in the calendar - a leap day.

Four years ago, Radio 4’s PM Programme invited listeners to do something different that day, to take a personal leap of some kind. To take advantage of the extra day and use it as an excuse to do something they had never done before.

Many did just that, for example:

• Got married or engaged
• A radio presenter helped one listener and charity fundraiser, who is blind, take her "Leap for PM", riding a tandem bike for the first time.
• One spoke Mandarin all day long
• Radio 4 broadcast the plan of one woman to have a cervical smear test that day and got emails from other listeners inspired by her.
• Another listener after six year’s, finally decided the wording for her late husband's headstone.
• Someone else joined the army
• Another woman intended to have chocolate that day, significant to her because her anorexia had been a problem for years
• A man who suffers from panic attacks planned to take a bus ride
• One listener wrote a letter to his estranged brother
• Another spent the day trying to heal a rift with an old friend

I wondered whether we could use this special day as an opportunity.  We spend much of our lives putting things off.  Sometimes it is things we would rather not do, sometimes its stuff we would love to do but will only get round to “someday”.  But because this is an “extra day”, we could perhaps use it as cover for such activities. We could give something a whirl and if it fails, well, it does not matter because it is not a proper day. It would be fabulous to have a rich variety of responses and hopefully inspire others to take a leap.

Please tweet to us or reply on our facebook page what “leap” you will do on Monday 29^th February. #Takealeap #ESL

Take a leap !