Sand in the Shorts: Happy Canada (Dominion) Day Weekend!

This column appeared in the July 2nd, 2011 Belleville Intelligencer

July 1^st is Memorial Day in Newfoundland and Labrador, where July 1^st is the anniversary of the offensive by the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Battle of the Somme. 780 men went forward. The next day, only 68 of these answered role call, the regiment having been essentially destroyed. This column is dedicated to the memory of those brave men and boys.

Happy Canada Day (weekend)!

By the time you read this, the festivities marking Canada's 144^th birthday will be over, but we will still be in the middle of the long weekend resulting from Canada Day falling on a Friday this year. Some of us will be working – many businesses these day unfortunately don't even close for the nation's birthday, while some synchronize their holiday with the US July 4^th holiday (sacrilege), and of course some can't close for the holiday as they are tourist oriented. To those of you working, I say thank you.

But I have had an idea for a while now, one which I am sure others have had as well. It seems the sort of idea which might make the end of June as exciting for Canadian adults as it is for kids getting out of school. As well, it could be a boon for tourism in areas adjacent to the American border. The idea is this:

Make the period from July 1-4 a statutory holiday. Four days off to start the summer, spend time with the kids, travel, and in various other ways “relax” to the point where you need to go back to work for a rest.

But what will others around the world be doing?

In India, it's Doctor's Day. In Canada, considering health care costs, every day must be doctor's (nurses', healthcare administrators', hospital custodians'...) day.

In Quebec, it is apparently something called “Moving Day”. Probably a figment of Gilles Duceppe's imagination.

It's International Tartan Day in Australia and New Zealand. The one day every year when men feel a draft down under.

In Bulgaria, it's July Morning, an event dating to the 1970s, inspired apparently by the Uriah Heep song of the same name. It involves going to the beach to watch the sun come up. Here, that's just another morning after for the drunks at Sandbanks.

It's Republic Day in Somalia, when the pirates and terrorists can reflect on the blessings of living in a failed state, and the hard work needed to keep it that way.

Hong Kong marks SAR Establishment Day on the 1^st – why that's a holiday and Peter Jackson's birthday isn't utterly escapes me...

So I hope you enjoyed your Canada Day, or Dominion Day as it was originally called, and the weekend as a whole. After all, this is Canada, and if you miss a summer weekend, it seems like winter arrives all the sooner.

And remember, the worst way to ruin the holiday weekend is by killing yourself or someone else, so if you drink, don't operate ANY motor vehicles (cars, ATVs, boats).