Monday is a whole different day to me, now I no longer work – in actual fact, it’s such a while since I had a day job, I’ve completely forgotten that Monday feeling! This is something I wrote from a whole ago:
I once saw an article about songs which have days in their titles, and I can’t remember which day was most written and sung about, but I guess there will be a lot of ‘Monday’ songs. The classic is ‘Monday, Monday’ by the Mamas and Papas, and then there is ‘I don’t like Mondays’, by the Boomtown Rats and ‘Rainy Days and Mondays’ by the Carpenters, ‘Manic Monday’ by the Bangles, and that’s just the ones I can recall!
Now I no longer have a regular job but spend all my time writing, the days of the week have different associations, so every other Monday is Gaelic and the second Monday of every month is creative writing; Tuesday mornings and every other afternoon is teaching English conversation, Tuesday nights my husband rehearses with his rock band; the first (or nearest the first as is convenient) Wednesday of the month is book-club; Thursday is Tai-Chi; once a month on a Saturday there is a Gaelic workshop, and the first Sunday of the month is my other book club.
The name Monday comes from the Old English ‘Monandæg’ which literally means ‘moon day’. The Chinese name of the day means ‘first day’ and in some Slav languages, the name means ‘day after Sunday’.
I know it is different in different countries, but I always think of Monday as the first day of the week; when I was working as a teacher, it wasn’t so much gloom waking up on a Monday morning after the weekend, the gloom came on Sunday night, as I got ready for school the next day. Monday mornings were, in a way, quite nice because I’ve always taught in places where I enjoyed working, and first thing on Monday it was nice to catch up with colleagues, and find out their weekend news. it was nice to see the students again and find out how they had spent their weekend, and hoping none had got into any scrapes!
To today it is Monday, it’s raining again, but no matter, I have writing to do!
Whatever sad and tragic stories are attached to the Mamas and Papas, this is a great song:
Lois Elsden 