Audiobook Challenge 2021 - Half Way Point Recap (Six Months)

 I started the Listening Books Audiobook Challenge for 2021 in January and now in June I thought I would look back on my progress at the half way point.

You can find details of Listening Books 2021 Audiobook Listening Challenge at the link below:

https://www.listening-books.org.uk/library/audiobook-listening-challenge-2021

1.  January: "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson - Nonfiction Audiobook that isn't a Memoir.

2.  Feb/March:  "The Garden of Angels" by David Hewson and "The Burning Girls" by C.J. Tudor - Two Audiobooks by the same Narrator (Richard Armitage). (Note:  Tudor's book has two narrators, Armitage and Gemma Whelan.)

3.  April:  "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah - Audiobook narrated by the Author

4.   May/June:  "Dracula" by Bram Stoker - Full Cast Audiobook  

There are no monthly themes this year, just 10 challenges to complete throughout the year. There are also 5 turbo level challenges. I've done both challenges and turbo level challenges, sort of mixing them since January.  You can combine two challenges in one book, haven't done that so far. Plus I need to select a challenge of my own as one of the options. 

I haven't selected my audiobook for July yet. 

Stages of Retirement - What Happened to Monday Holidays?

In the 40+ years that I worked full-time before retiring recently, I was always, always, very aware of the  holidays, especially what we know as the "Monday Holidays".   Not everyone gets the holidays as paid holidays at work, but I was lucky that my various places of work almost always observed all these holidays.  

I was always very aware also so I could request the Friday before the holiday weekend as a vacation day off.  With exceptions, because of my line of work, I could usually take that extra long 4-day weekend.  

It wasn't that I usually traveled during these holiday, I seldom did through the years, but it was the peace of having more than two days to have my own schedule, or more often, to take on a project at home like going through closets.  Sometimes it was taking part in special holiday related events in the area.  

Now between being retired and the pandemic cancelling many in-person events, I barely remember there is a holiday coming up this weekend.  As an older retired friend once said to me, "in retirement, every day is a weekend."

I have to confess that I miss the expectation and excitement leading up to the Monday Holidays when I was in the workforce.  I miss discussing weekend holiday plans with co-workers, even if I myself often didn't have any.  And yes, I miss the expectation as was the case in some jobs early in my work life, that the boss would let us go home early the day before the holiday weekend.  Those were good bosses 😀