Saturdays, with reservations

What a wonderfully beautiful day today, Saturday is going to be. I'm not supposed to have much work to do at the shop. Sunshine, temperatures in the 50's, college football is on most of the day, I have a full tank of gas, and some steaks are thawing for dinner. It's shaping up to be one for the record books all right. However, from past experience I can't help but have a feeling of impending doom.

Saturdays are special. Yet they are sometimes contradictory.

It's a beautiful day to enjoy the outdoors. Saturday is perfect for spending hours raking leaves from a yard you so diligently spent hours raking last Saturday.

Saturday is a day off to spend home for millions of people. Saturday is the busiest day of the week for tens of thousands of telemarketers.

Saturday is a great day to sleep in. Saturday is the day your next door neighbor chooses to rototill his garden and get his snowblower started, before breakfast.

Saturday is a great day to pick up some things at the store. Saturday is the day everyone else does too.

Saturday is a great day to do your banking. Saturday the bank closes at noon, the same time you wake up from sleeping late or finish raking the leaves.

Saturday is a great day to take a ride and enjoy the fall colors. Saturday is the day the work crews shut down and repair the roads that were too busy to work on during the week.

Saturday is quiet, a perfect day to catch up on office work. Saturday is the day customers stop by to have you look at stuff without waiting for other customers when you were open.

As you can see I find Saturdays rather a contradiction. I work most Saturdays so you would think a Saturday off would be a treat. It is! Its just that its not a treat until everything else is done.

My plans for the day have to be flexible or I'll wind up being disappointed. I'm an expert in that sort of thing though. To prevent being woke up by a neighbor at 7am, I got myself up at 3:30. To prevent long waiting lines at the stores, I was finished by 5am. To prevent being interrupted at work I was done by 7am. To prevent a myriad of detours on the road, I took the long way home for a short but colorful ride. To prevent getting to the bank after hours, I used the night deposit.

I am flexible, pro-active, whatever you want to call it but I am determined to end the day with stories of how much enjoyment I had on my very rare Saturday off. The only cloud on the horizon that I can foresee that I really can't do anything about is this: As sure as this is Saturday, I will fall asleep, wherever I am at the time, somewhere around 6 or 7pm. That's a lock! About the time everyone else who didn't take such preventive precautions as I are just getting started in having a great time. Even caution has its consequence I guess.