Hunh. I was about to start writing today’s newsletter and I wondered – “Why Friday?”
More specifically, I wondered – “Why are there seven days in the week? It’s not like seven is favorite number. I mean, yeah, in some cultures seven is a magic number and it’s a prime but three and five are generally more popular. Why are there weeks?”

I probably learned the reason that we humans follow our current calendar but, given that I haven’t needed that knowledge lately, I forgot. So I used the internet to look it up and it turns out that the seven day week has been around for over 2000 years. Since Babylon. Seven day for the seven planets that they were able to observe. Other cultures had shorter and longer weeks but, eventually (and in large part because of the spread of the Roman empire that is the basis for Western culture) everybody adopted the seven day week.

The weekend is a modern invention. Thanking God that it’s Friday is definitely a modern sentiment. Given that I work most Saturdays and only have two days off in a row in two out of six weeks “weekend” isn’t really a thing for me. I’m more of a TGIS sort of guy. S being Sunday. That’s the only day that the Post Office doesn’t deliver mail. We do deliver parcels for Amazon. I have enough seniority that I don’t have work Sundays. So TGIS(eniority) and TGF(or)U(nions).

But I digress.

My postal truck, that is, the truck that is assigned to my route, has been out of commission for the past week. I came to work last Thursday and it didn’t start. I’ve had to borrow other routes’ trucks to deliver each day. If you every took a ride in my personal car you’d probably think I’m a slob. I wouldn’t argue with you. I’m not a general slob. I’m a slob in specific places. My car is one of those places. My postal truck is not. I keep my postal truck clean and neat. I can’t say that no other carriers do the same but none of the trucks I borrowed this week were close to clean and neat.

My truck started yesterday morning. I assumed that vehicle maintenance had fixed whatever was wrong with it. I drove it for most of the day yesterday and was surprised at how minimalist I keep it. No rubber bands on the gear shifts. No paperwork and postal forms and trash and pens and gooey keys on the dashboard. No empty water bottles and fast food wrappers under the mail platform. No piles of leaves around the brake and gas pedals.

It died again two swings before the end of my route. I was able to deliver the last of my mail on foot while I waited for a supervisor to come and check out the truck. He wasn’t able to fix it any more than I was so he called a tow truck and gave me a ride back to the station. I have today off so it’s possible that my truck will be fixed in time for me to drive it tomorrow. Possible but unlikely. Last year I was without my truck for over two months. Maintenance subcontracted its repair to the Pep Boys and then forgot about it.

But enough words. Here’s a picture –

And here’s the picture with words.

This will be in the Mighty Nizz store whenever I get that established.

And that’s it for this week. Thank you for reading.

See you in seven!