Well, its Labour Weekend

And typically for Labour Weekend its currently pissing down with rain. But thats not really of much account . basically we have had a good weekend. Sharon & Richard came down with the grandkids & thats always nice. They really are growing up fast. The grandkids that is. Sharon & Richard do act mature on occasions as well. Didnt do a lot, but it was nice just for them to be here & to spend quality time with them. I couldnt get down & play with them too much as I banged my ribs up somewhat last Thursday at work & two visits later to the hospital later am still sore. Coming right though.

Alf's family came down to tidy up & clean out his house & tidy up & have a garage sale.. Damn a lot of stuff got sold at bargain prices. Two big rubbish skips of crap have also gone from the property as well as all but two of the old car body's so its all good.

On a sad note, my friend Jeff has been readmitted to hospital. He has terminal cancer & i dont think that he has much longer to go somehow. Just wish I could bundle the three of them up & make all the hurt go away, but that is only possible in story books I guess . All we can do now is be there for them now. Other than that, its been good to have extra day off. Its helped the poor old body along substantially, so happy labour day.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about Labour day

A Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers.

The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. On 21 April 1856 Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne, Australia, stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as the first organized workers in the world to achieve an eight hour day with no loss of pay, which subsequently inspired the celebration of Labour Day and May Day.

Labour Day in New Zealand

In New Zealand, Labour Day is a public holiday held on the fourth Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day. He encouraged other tradesman to also only work for eight hours a day and in October 1840 a workers' meeting passed a resolution supporting the idea. On 28 October 1890, the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day was commemorated with a parade. The event was then celebrated annually in late October as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 government legislated that the day be a public holiday from 1900. The day was celebrated on different days in different provinces. This led to ship owners complaining that seamen were taking excessive holidays by having one Labour Day in one port then another in their next port. In 1910 the government "Mondayised" the holiday so that it would be observed on the same day throughout the nation.

Apparently its a pretty big thing in Canada as well. It does seem strange that we "celebrate." I feel that it might be more appropriate to spend the day in mourning somehow. We seem hell bent at the moment on giving away all the hardfought benefits that our fathers worked so hard to obtain. Like who actually works a 40 week any more ? I wouldnt know what to do with my spare time if I only worked 40 hours. And who belongs to a union any more ? I dont , but I am lucky enough to be employed by a company with a heart. There are those who arent though. I guess one of the good things to come out recently is the extra weeks holiday after you have been employed in the same company for 10 years. I have just qualified for that.. yay...

Reading.. The Gospel of Judas by Simon Mawer, fiction, with the interesting concept of a scroll found in the Dead Sea area written by Judas that starts off by stating that he saw Christ die & that he didnt rise & he had viewed the decomposing body. All this is being translated by a Roman Catholic priest.. Hmmmmmmm......

Listening to. The Best of Jethro Tull Kick ass rock at its best.. I just love what Ian Anderson does with the flute..