Top 10: What is the most creative excuse you have heard for someone being late?

Hylia Chan, 11, St Paul’s Co-educational College Primary School: Once, a classmate who arrived late to school told the teacher, “I am late because I helped an old lady cross the street. I also assisted another elderly woman in picking up some oranges she had dropped. Then, I rescued a stray cat from the streets and took it to the vet. After that, I missed the bus and had to take the MTR, but it got a flat tyre.” The teacher exasperatedly said, “The MTR trains don’t have tyres.”

Isabella Lam Sum-yau, 13, Christ College: The most creative excuse I have heard for being late is: “I had a dream that I became an astronaut and went to Mars. I was obsessed with the stars and the galaxy, so I stayed there for a long time. This is why I woke up late – I was curious about our universe. I hope you won’t blame me for being a curious person.”

Yanice Yuen Tin-yan, 16, Pui Kiu College: The most creative excuse I heard for being late was when my friend said his dog bit his Octopus card the previous night, so he could not travel to school by MTR. As a result, he had to walk to school from his home, which took two hours.

Caitlin Lee Yan-tung, 11, Holy Angels Canossian School: My classmate once arrived at our badminton class 45 minutes late. When the coach questioned her why she was that late, she said that her grandmother had passed away. The coach expressed his regret and told her to join the training. However, her grandmother came to pick her up at the end of class.

Cheng Ka-yau, 15, Tsuen Wan Government Secondary School: I heard a funny one from my friend. One day, we planned to meet early in the morning. She was late and told me she had a dream that I had cancelled this plan of hanging out together. Therefore, she somehow thought it was real and that she would not have to wake up. As a result, she fell asleep again. It was such a hilarious experience that I will never forget.

Cheung Yu-ching, 13, Christian Alliance S C Chan Memorial College: One day, I fixed a time and place with my friend to practise for an upcoming show. When I arrived at the location, I asked my friend where she was. She gave me an incredible excuse that she was late because someone stepped on her shoes while she was getting on the bus, and they came off. She said she had to go back to the stop where she boarded the bus to get her shoes back, which is why she would be late.

Lily Luo Uen-yi, 15, TWGHs Li Ka Shing College: The most creative excuse I’ve heard for someone being late is, “I had to combat a monster.” One of my friends was late for maths class. When the teacher asked her why she was late, she simply replied, “Because I had to defeat a monster to maintain world peace.” It turned out that the “monster” was her Chinese tutor, and she was late because her teacher gave her extra classwork to do.

What is the weirdest favour you have been asked to do?

Priscilla Leong Pui-sze, 14, Shun Tak Fraternal Association Leung Kau Kui College: My friend was late to meet me once. When I was about to get angry, she said, “I didn’t mean to be late. I brought you your favourite foods. Now you know why I was late”. When I saw all the cakes and drinks, my anger vanished. I was happy that my friend knew me so well that she sensed I wanted to eat all those things.

Janice Wong Man-hei, 14, Pope Paul VI College: The most creative excuse I have ever heard from my friend is that she needed to feed her hamster. She said that it would have died if she had not fed it on time. However, I think this is not true since it is impossible to take one hour to feed a pet.

Cayla Chow Tsz-ching, 14, King Ling College: The most creative excuse I have heard for someone being late is that there was an earthquake. Hence, he hid under the bed and accidentally fell asleep. Who would be so careless as to fall asleep during an earthquake? I found this excuse very interesting because he said something so outrageous so seriously.