Tuesday, March 21, 2006

The Seventh Day.

March 4, Las Cruces.
Three shows today and three shows tomorrow, week ends at Circus Chimera are anything but restful.
Sundays are particularly hard on everybody. After three shows for two days in a row most performers, like Fridman, have to drive a big rig to the next town, and that can be a short trip or, as in last week, several hours away. Then of course Fridman also has to park all vehicles before going to sleep. I never liked Sundays growing up; now I have a good reason why, although it is quite the opposite of why I didn't like them as a kid: too much instead of not enough to do.
On Sundays in France, up to this day, all shops are closed by law. Only a few exceptions are made, most notably if the business has to do with tourism. It has always seemed ironic to me that this very Christian-like "day of rest" should be so faithfully respected in a country that is one of the less religious in the world (although I have a feeling it has more to do with taking the day off than anything religious.) In turn, the United States is one of the most religion-obsessed country that I know, and yet here there are no trace of this biblical injunction to rest. Priorities are where they should be, after all: business is business.

No comments: