THE ALVIN --

At exactly 8.02 PM on February 20 this year it will be an historic

moment in time. It will not be marked by the chiming of any

clocks or the  ringing of bells, but at that precise time, on that

specific date, something will happen which has not occurred for

1,001 years and will never happen again.

As the clock ticks over from 8.01pm on Wednesday, February

20, time will,  for sixty seconds only, read in perfect symmetry

2002, 2002, 2002, or to be more precise - 20:02, 20/02, 2002.

This historic event will never have the same poignancy as the

11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month which marks

Armistice Day, but it is an event which has only ever happened

once before, and is something which will never be repeated.

The last occasion that time read in such a symmetrical pattern

was long before the days of the digital watch and the 24-hour

clock - at 10.01am on January 10, 1001. And because the clock

only goes up to 23.59, it is something that will never happen again.