Hi, I'm still here

Subject: Hi, I'm still here.

It's Saturday morning.
Saturdays even when you are retired and each day has no particular prominence over another, somewhere deep inside, Saturday is different. It's instinctive, the weekend has arrived. Perhaps it seeps in from the street where instead of the sound of motor cars setting off early to work, the street is still quiet.
Perhaps it's the laid back quality of the day or the anticipation of some sporting contest, today it's the 2nd Lions v New Zealand test, perhaps for some it's Saturday shopping and breakfast out at the cafe bistro which has become popular. What ever it is Saturday is different.
Different again from Sunday where through years of symbiosis the tone of the day is tuned down and is more reflective. You don't have to be religious to sense the religiosity of the day. You don't have to go to church to hear the bells calling the brethren to service, you don't have to be religious to glimpse out of the corner of your eye the folk who are religious and for them, the day is special. Their observance is like a reminder of an unanswered question which was put in our minds when young and hangs about unanswered until we reach a stage when the answer becomes more relevant.
Monday of course still has that dull ring to it, the start of a working week, the call to serve others and their agenda and not your own flight of fancy. Even though you are retired and can turn over and nod off to sleep again you hear the cars starting up and reverse into the street. A little later you hear the school kids chattering on their way to school or the really young children scuttling back a few yards ahead of Mum or Dad tethered by an invisible line of exploring how far they can explore their own world until the call of "don't go too" far reminds them that someone is looking out for them.
You feel a little pang, a little lonely pang of being left out, of not being included, of becoming irrelevant and invisible. As the street quietens and you are left alone with only breakfast and morning TV to drag you out of bed. No ow you begin to understand how my blogs are often written early in the morning. It's a prop, it's a substitute for that early morning catch up conversation around the coffee/tea machine in the office. It's about saying "Hi I'm still here alive and well", and "what are you doing today".
The routine of the week and the meaning given to each day, how Tuesday is so different to Friday how the rhythm of the week is up and down, all this is largely missing for the retiree. The fact that you really can put off today for tomorrow and nothing is amiss other than the Presbyterian ethos which makes you uncomfortable what ever you do.
Hi I'm still here !!!