The compression of time

Once upon a time Easter was in March-April.1

We enjoyed hot cross buns for a couple of weeks up the date, then they were gone for a time.

But then some smarties decided to launch hot cross buns into supermarkets on Boxing Day. Probably to fill the space vacated by Christmas stuff.

I like hot cross buns so I used to buy a packet on boxing day to celebrate the new year. A relatively stable date since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.

But this changed in 2024. Hot cross buns were on the shelf all year. Where’s the fun in that?

In the year 1 BL2 we visited Canada. I was somewhat amused, and then alarmed to see a sign saying

Hang on! the een bit is a contraction of eve. 31 October is the evening before 1st November, All Saints Day (aka All Hallows Day) It’s now a month! Gadzooks!

Friday used to one day in the week. Of significance to people of several religions and to most people on a five day working week. But where has it gone?

Black Friday has eaten all six of the other days of the week. It’s been going since late November. Cyber Monday put up a brief resistance but soon succumbed.

Steven Hawking wrote about this in 2007 in a book called A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. He was a very clever bloke Mr Hawking, but what he missed was that the Black Hole that was going to destroy our inboxes, our minds and the whole universe was called Black Friday.