Impress Your Dates & Mates: The End of the World

Since there's not much time left, we'll just make a list of what you need to know:

Friday marks the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, which has been around for 5,125 years. It was used in pre-Columbian days, and is mostly associated with the Mayans.

There is the possibility that Friday will be the date of the next solar maximum, which is normal solar activity (the last one was in 2000), and can affect our weather or blast us to smithereens. (We'd forgotten about the Smithereens! Must listen to them before Friday.)

Friday might also be the day the earth gets sucked into the black hole in the centre of the galaxy, which is located in Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star).

Or maybe we're going to run into a planet called Nibiru, but we're feeling less sure about this one, since it was an idea created in 1995 by a woman who was allegedly in touch with extra-terrestrial beings.

Other New Age believers think this Friday will kick off an era of good physical and spiritual transformation. And to think we thought that day was New Year's Day. Silly us.

But don't laugh: 20% of Chinese believe something is going to happen this Friday, and in Russia, the shelves are empty of candles and salt. However, as Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov so rationally pointed out: "Does no one realise that once the end of the world comes, candles won't help them?"

What we do know for sure is that Friday kicks off a very long weekend for most people. We hope you enjoy it!