New Zealand celebrates Labour Weekend this Monday. The day marks the introduction of the 40-hour working week, which was agitated for by a man named Samuel Parnell. For gardeners, its major importance is that Labour Weekend is the time to get your tomato plants in the garden, plus whatever other warm-climate plants you have, peppers, eggplants, lettuce. Its a big gardening and do-it-yourself weekend, with good deals at the hardware outlets and D.I.Y stuff, so by the time we get back to work on Tuesday, the workers of NZ are totally stuffed (as we say in the quaint vernacular). We'll have sprained backs, blistered hands and chronic hay-fever from the compost bin moulds we've breathed in. We take our leisure seriously here, and the day that Mr Parnell wanted to have for us to rest and relax is anything but.
I have heard a rumour that some people stay in bed and read all day, but I couldn't possibly comment on this.
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