'Week-End'

I love Fridays. I love the rhythm of each day of each week, and how specific days seem to carry certain vibes/feelings/etc. along with them. Even from my earliest memories of using hair barrettes for each day of the week in preschool, I knew I liked my 'Friday' barrette better than the others. Perhaps it was the color of the barrette, perhaps it's some post-industrial-revolution instinct gathered from my ancestors that makes me long for a weekend.

I recently started watching the PBS Masterpiece Series, Downton Abbey, after hearing a few of my friends rave about it on social media sites. In one episode, the newly discovered heir mentions only being available on weekends because of his werk schedule, and the grandmother (Dowager Countess of Grantham, ultimate british matriarch of the show) simply asks: "What is a week-end?".

Apparently during the early 20th century, the 'week-end' was something to be enjoyed by the middle class, since the likes of the residents of Downton Abbey had no need of werk, and therefore no understanding of the use of a 'week-end'.

I am glad of my weekends, however 'middle class' they might be, and always happy to see them show their face come Friday afternoon! I find it to be a great indulgence to turn off my werk email account on my iphone after werk on Fridays...helping me avoid the temptation to check any emails that filter in over the weekend.

On another note, if you get a chance to watch some episodes of Downton Abbey online or on netflix this weekend, do it. It's a slower moving British drama, but the cast is huge and the story lines become more intriguing with each turn of the plot.