Top 5 upsides of the haze problem...

Technorati tags: Humor, Malaysia, Sarcasm, Haze, Visit Malaysia Year, Environment, Air Quality, Tokyo, Ghana

They say that with every cloud comes a silver lining - to be exact, looking out the window, a yellowish-brownish shimmer of a lining.

But there are a few upsides to the pretty nasty haze that we're currently having, that we probably haven taken totally for granted.

Upside No. 1 - We immediately have a new tagline for next's year's Visit Malaysia 2007 campaign
This comes courtesy of the haze, Tourism Malaysia director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab, and Patrick Teoh (Mr. Tokkok himself - something he mentioned in this post). Yeah, most places would be better than Ghana, actually...

Upside No. 2 - Every daylight moment looks like it's just before 7:00am
Great excuse for not getting in to work on time. "Gee, boss.. my alarm clock didn't ring, and I thought it was still before 7am" - nevermind that you're just getting in to work at 3pm...

Upside No. 3 - Smokers have a valid excuse for lighting up
At least they know what they're inhaling (not really true, but it's a good-sounding excuse), and their throats don't taste like roasted Sumatra.

Upside No. 4 - Good reason to NOT wash the car
This one should be self-explanatory. "But honey, it's only going to get dirty again with the haze..." The fact that the car's NOT been washed for weeks prior to the haze is immaterial.

Upside No. 5 - "Malaysian Haze - almost like late autumn in England"
... minus the cold, minus the cleaner air, and oh yeah, minus England. Hmm.. a pint of bitter and some chips would be nice right around now...

So, any other upsides you can think of? Walski has a few more that he could post, but Mr. Throat tells him that it's time to clear the thick plegm that's accumulated...