Its A Beautiful Morning

FTLComm - Tisdale - Saturday, February 9, 2002 Images by: Judy Shire

Once upon a time Saturday was just another day, the day before Sunday, but just another work day. After the war Canadians began to reconsider the way their lives were being organised and there was a lot of desire to establish more self determination and less control on the basic elements of life. So it was that

all across the country there began a movement to reduce the work week from forty-eight hours to forty. Employers were not enthusiastic about this trend and resisted, but one of the things Canadians had learned from the

war and from the dirty thirties was that on your own you were pretty helpless, but working together you could do the impossible. Canadian railroad workers were unionised and their main demand in the first year of the 50s was a forty hour work

week. CNR and CPR fought and lost a strike lasting almost three weeks, tied up the nation and they gave in and that's where Saturday came from. At last Canadians had a "weekend". But as with all good things there is always something that

comes along and spoils it. During the eighties the practice of opening up stores on Sunday has undone the once cherished weekend so that retail workers and many others have to pitch in and work one or both days of what once was the weekend. With the down scaling of the economy, earned wages do not buy what they did in the 50s, so everyone has to earn wages and with so much part time work, folks have to take whatever hours they can get.

But the sun still rises each day, the hoar frost still forms sometimes and we can enjoy our lives as best we can if we make the time to share with one another and realise how important shared time can be. This magnificent Saturday morning Judy set out for a walk and was able

to catch these images of a fine winter morning, bits of ice on things and a sky that promised to clear and wash the snow with golden sunlight. I still love Saturday, remembering full well what it was like when my dad went on strike and we had to go live on my Uncle and Aunt's farm. The strike was a scary thing, but the results were well worth it, in the years that followed and we as a family benefited directly being able to have dad home Saturday to do things with. For those who still

work Monday to Friday, Saturday is the best day of the week. A time when you can work for yourself and for your family, a time to do things together and a time to look at the sunrise, shovel the drive way, smell the frost in the air and plan for next Saturday. There is no question the folks who are Jewish have things right. The day of rest begins Friday at sundown and is not over until Saturday at sundown. Enjoy your Saturdays. Timothy W. Shire