Since retiring from the workforce, holidays have held less importance to me personally. Of course, the implications of having members of my family working when I am not means that I haven’t become totally divorced from the festivities, it’s just that, apart from my “normal” chores and responsibilities, every day is a holiday.
There, now that I’ve rubbed it in, let me express a few thoughts about holidays in general and about the Christmas holidays in particular.
Firstly, holidays are important, not just from a leisure point of view but also from the impact that they have on the health and welfare of workers. Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, workers worked 12 and 14 hour days and had few, if any opportunities for leisure. Along with the rudimentary knowledge of medicine and health, this punishing routine of almost constant work, contributed significantly to poor health outcomes.
During the French Revolution, the Republican authorities, in an attempt to break the power and influence of the Roman Catholic church, abolished the Gregorian calendar and instituted their own, replacing the existing working week with a TEN day working week. Aside for experiencing almost constant opposition to this idea, the authorities soon found that productivity dropped and workers were becoming subject to more illnesses and absenteeism. The unpopular and stupid idea was abolished by Napoleon just 12 years later.
Other experiments at altering the length of the working week have also been similarly unsuccessful. The only success seems to have been when the length of the working week was SHORTENED, Funny about that, isn’t it? The problem now becomes one that, since people are increasingly expecting to have access to goods and services all the time, for many of our population, the working week is now actually LONGER than it used to be. This impacts upon all sorts of areas but especially obvious is the impact that it has on organised leisure-time activities. Organisers of sports and other similar activities find themselves in the position of not being able to arrange calendars and so forth because many of the people involved in supporting the activities are unable to be involved due to work commitments.
So much for us having more leisure time than what we used to have!
But, what about holidays? Well, they’re great, aren’t they? Someone noted the other day that, if you ask the average Sydneysider what they are going to do on their holidays the answer will be “Go up the coast.” or “Go down the coast.” Asking a Wollongong resident will usually garner the second of these two replies even though Wollongong itself is ALREADY “down the coast”
Being retired enables me to choose my holiday time when other people aren’t having them. Camping grounds and resorts are mercifully empty and access to facilities, to say nothing of lack of traffic on the roads, is always a bonus.
People, however, do funny things on holidays and I want to address this issue for a moment. Why is it that Mr Businessman, who spends 48 weeks of the year driving his car around the suburbs at 60-80km/h suddenly turns into Mr Cannonball Run when the holiday season starts? Do not these supposedly intelligent people realise that there is a world of difference between driving in the suburbs and driving on the highway/ Do not they understand that a year of spent pootling around Melbourne does NOT prepare them, in ANY way at all, for the daunting task of driving from Melbourne to Surfers Paradise? Example. This week the Highway Patrol at Coonabarrabran, way out west, detected and pulled over a 35 year old driver, from Melbourne, who was doing 196km/h in his Commodore WITH his wife and two children in the car. Now I ask you! I mean, I know what he was doing; he was attempting to show his wife what a great long-distance driver he was by driving straight through from Melbourne to Brisbane in a day. Yes, of course it CAN be done, but at what cost? The fine was not mentioned in the news report but I believe that the cost of exceeding the posted limit by more than 45km/h in NSW is over $2000. Added to this, his licence was cancelled for 6 months ON THE SPOT and the inconvenience and expense for his stupidity has only just begun.
Let me make this very clear, however, SPEED IS NOT THE ISSUE. While our authorities continue to harp on about “Speed Kills” the fact is that, their fixation with speed is only because enforcing speed limits is a convenient and easy source of income for the government. Yes, the inability to control speed CAN kill, the overwhelming cause of deaths and injuries on country roads (AND this is where most of them occur) is FATIGUE; city drivers trying to be long-distance drivers without the experience and good sense to be so.
OK, that’s not quite holidays but it is relevant and thank you for letting me get it off my chest.
Now, holidays. They are wonderful things; we all need them and we should take as many of them as we are allowed to take. AND, if you can take them (or even part of them) on a motorcycle, then so much the better.
This holiday season we are being urged by the media and their minions to wish everyone “Happy Holidays” so as not to offend any minorities in our community who do not celebrate Christmas. To this I say, in the immortal words of Col Sherman Potter, HORSE HOCKEY!! There is only one reason why we HAVE this holiday and it is to celebrate the birth of Christ, otherwise it wouldn’t exist. Despite the fact that it has been commercialised to death, it is STILL a religious holiday and you don’t have to be religious to enjoy it any more than you have to be a Unionist to celebrate Labour Day.
So, on behalf of me, a retired Christmas celebrating old you know what, may I take the opportunity of wishing all my readers (yes, all 7 of them) a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. If you’re out on the road, please do it sensibly and, if you get the chance for a ride (or even more) enjoy it and do it safely. I don’t believe that I have lost a reader yet and I don’t want to start now 🙂
sesblocker says
Great blog Phil! I agree with you about the increasing of hours of a normal working week. The other matter is the erosion of public holidays. Well actually, the Boxing day public holiday still exists but there is increasing pressure by employers to have their employees work it. This year, two family members have been asked to work it because some overpaid executive at Bunnings wants the stores open on Boxing day. I’m sure that executive won’t be working that day.
For quite some years, I dreaded long weekends and the Christmas/New Year holidays. You’re probably thinking I’m either non-Christian or I am some sort of anti-social recluse. Neither of these apply to me.
The dread was initiated by the significant increase of road accidents I would attend as a rescue officer. Invariably these “accidents” usually involved a “road warrior” from a metropolitan area whose normal life was that of a commuter. The long weekend would roll around and they’d launch themselves onto country roads. “They would kill, or seriously injure themselves, their family or some unsuspecting motorists.
Rant over!
God bless you and your family this Christmas.
Phil Hall says
I’m with you, mate, 100% I don’t even want to think of the hell that emergency workers go through during this time. Thanks for the feedback, mate. All the best to you and your family. I hope your holiday is wonderful.
jeffb says
A good read and to the point,Phil. (as always I must say). I will catch you for a chat somewhere ‘up or down’ the Wollongong coast these holidays I am sure . (if not at TFRPS). All the very best to you,Helena and your family for a wonderful Christmas and a safe,happy and joy filled New Year. Jeff
Phil Hall says
Thanks, mate, yes we must organise a coffee and a catch up. 🙂 All the best to uou and Bernadette and all the family.
dunc says
all the best to you and the family phil
and the best to the others that frequent the site as well
Phil Hall says
Thank you, mate. Thanks for your support over the year, it means a great deal. All the best for the season.