Here's that rainy day...

Such sang Sinatra, and it sure is rainy today.

But my internal barometer is on a steady "Sunny", because my life really is grand, and to top it off, it's friday!

Friday is a special day - not only does it bring weekend, but here in Denmark most people have a shorter workday on friday.

When I was a teenager, my parents worked 40 hours a week. Today most people have a workweek, that is only 37 hours long - and mine is just 36, due to the fact that I work in the IT trade and thus have a number of odd hours on weekends sometimes.

That means that I go in for work on 8 in the morning and go home at 4 in the afternoon - and that my friday ends at 2.30. That makes for a very nice beginning of the weekend.

When I compare with the friends I have in other countries, I feel privileged - when I started work more that 20 years ago, I had 5 weeks of vacation every year. Now I have 7. And of course, all with full pay.

During my pregnancies, I didn't have to worry about doctors bills, it's all paid for over my taxes, that supply our health system. Also, I went on maternal leave 4 weeks before I was due, and didn't come back to work until 5 months after I delivered. The whole time, I got my salary.

What I do feel, though, is that I could easily work many, many more hours. Sometimes I wonder if, when they cut of the hours of the working weeks length and gave us longer vacations, they kept the workload constant. So we really just have to do the same amount of work in a shorter period of time?

Never mind that, though. My busy is the good kind of busy, and the rain outside won't kill my friday mood. My kids are here (at least the two of them that are presently in Denmark), and tonight Bruno and I are going out with a couple of very good friends for dinner.

I know it's gonna be a lovely weekend, no matter if it rains all through it!