Show Day

We’ve just had a long weekend.

Friday was a Public Holiday, or Bank Holiday as they say in England, but it doesn’t matter a jot what it’s called, we didn’t have to go to work, and the schools were closed and generally around the middle of the coast there wasn’t much going on.

This was only of course the middle bit, because it’s the bit formerly known as the Maroochy Shire, in what of course is now the Sunshine Coast Region, and technically the day off was to celebrate the Maroochy Show. The other two former Council’s each has a Show Day of their own, and no one can decide what to do with this somewhat schizophrenic arrangement, so for the time being the City is split along (literally) party lines, with Shows being held in Nambour, Noosa and Maleny and depending on where in this great schamozzle one lives, one is expected I suppose, to use the day off wisely and turn up at the appropriate event.

Expected to show the flag so to speak.

I imagine quite a few people do, but a lot of others don’t.

While I’m never backward in taking an opportunity not to go to work, it does seem a bit disruptive, particularly when the Friday Holiday is in the same week as the Queen’s Birthday Monday Holiday.

A few businesses are actually taking advantage of the short week, and closing entirely for the duration, however the last word in inconvenience really goes to a gentlemen of my acquaintance who is of an age where society doesn’t expect him to work any longer.

I shall refer to him only as Fossil, reasoning that if it’s good enough for his kids to call him that, it’s good enough for me.

Fossil dropped in for a chat yesterday, ready to take some government bureaucrat head on.

He couldn’t believe they’d do this to him.

He’d worked hard all his life, he said to get to a point where he could retire, and was starting to enjoy himself entirely. This week though, when you take out the public holidays and weekends that he would have had off anyway, he’s reasoned that they’ve only let him be retired for three days.

He was wondering if he should get penalty time or something for having to suffer time out of retirement to have the Public Holiday.