little fridays
The Icelandic spring calendar is a smattering of holidays. You have the five-day Easter smackdown, yes, but then a whole sprinkling of one-offs besides: Sumardagurinn fyrsti (the first day of summer, a Thursday in mid-April), Verkalýðsdagurinn (Labor Day), Uppstingingardagur (Ascension Day), Annar í hvítasunnu (the Monday after Whitsun), and Lýðveldisdagurinn (better known as 17. júní, the Day of the Republic). Since these "red days" just fall when they fall (17. júní is a Sunday this year, so bad luck for us) the weeks are broken up in odd ways. And no two years are alike.
These odd breakups of weeks create a series of "little Fridays". Take this week, for example. Tomorrow we have a holiday in honor of Workers of the World Uniting, but today is a working day. However, today is also a "little Friday" because it's the last day of this mini one-day work week. What comes along with a little Friday is what you might expect on a Big Friday, and that is a standard weekend party scene. Just one that is shifted to the middle of the week.
My friends and I discussed this yesterday at Vegamót: whether or not today was a little Friday, and how much we thought tonight might be a good night to go out. The consensus was, "Of course!" So I fully expect the normal complement of slow-crawling traffic on Laugavegur, dudes looking tough on street corners, tipsy girls in leggings and high heels weaving down the sidewalk towards me, and a packed line under the awning at Oliver on this spring Monday evening.
These odd breakups of weeks create a series of "little Fridays". Take this week, for example. Tomorrow we have a holiday in honor of Workers of the World Uniting, but today is a working day. However, today is also a "little Friday" because it's the last day of this mini one-day work week. What comes along with a little Friday is what you might expect on a Big Friday, and that is a standard weekend party scene. Just one that is shifted to the middle of the week.
My friends and I discussed this yesterday at Vegamót: whether or not today was a little Friday, and how much we thought tonight might be a good night to go out. The consensus was, "Of course!" So I fully expect the normal complement of slow-crawling traffic on Laugavegur, dudes looking tough on street corners, tipsy girls in leggings and high heels weaving down the sidewalk towards me, and a packed line under the awning at Oliver on this spring Monday evening.
posted by JB at 30.4.07
4 Comments:
Happy you are back because has you know, for me the blogg is the juice.
Neal
In a month of work, I've only had one normal 5-work-days week, thanks to all the holidays :). Unfortunately, looking at the calendar, I see a dark period between Verslunarmannahelgi and Christmas...
Yeah not only dark but getting darker and darker by the day... let's not talk about that stretch of months, shall we?
Alas many of those days are of no use to us dutiful Uni students.
If it´s worth anything, I just wanted to say that I enjoy your blog a great deal. Uplifting in these days of xenophobia to hear the views of an Icelander who hasn´t been one for long enough to realise what a frightfully dull place this is :)
Bjarni
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