In France in October 1793 it was decided that there would now be a new way of marking the passing of time. A calendar based on a 10 hour day in a 10-day week was introduced, with every month made up of 30 days - the extra days being added on at the end of the year.
How confused everyone must have been and it's no wonder that in 1806 everyone decided they had had enough and reverted to what had been before.
12 comments:
Ten day work week?! Oy!
I think the rest day was day number 7
(yes, they numbered each day instead of naming it).
You're making this up as you go along...
But wait until you hear about the Saints' Days being replaced by the names of fruit and vegetables - even my imagination wouldn't be that good :)
What would they have made of the 35 hour working week. Who were these loonies and why did they dream up this cauchemar.
I read that a couple of times and I am still confused.
YIKES....one of those "duh" ideas...
Mind you,having a 'once a week'commitment that wasn't enjoyable coming round every 10 days...........not bad! :)
Hey the French...what would we do without them! Zeut alors!
blue - these 'loonies' wanted to make a complete break with the past. They were full of revolutionary fervour.
willow - I was wrong about day 7 being the rest day. It was in fact day 10 (I've read so much about this period of history that I have trouble remembering everything, but I've got the book open even as I write this)
lady jicky (great name) hello and yes, it is all very confusing. The first year they did all this they called Year 1.
nikki - you can just imagine it can't you. Some numpty comes up with this peculiar idea, someone else agrees and nobody wants to be the one to say IT's RUBBISH, lest they be accused of wanting to divide the new Republic.
anonymous - hello there, It was truly bizarre. I spend a fair bit of time chatting with neighbours and none of them had ever been taught this at school. I'm sure they think I'm making it up in my peculiar English way.
hadriana - As our doctor would say - I'm not a Frenchman I'm a Breton and I live in a town under occupation. All our street signs are in Breton and French and you often see the French sign blocked out by modern day Revolutionaries. But at least they prefer to have English neighbours to the dreaded Parisians who seem to be buying up a lot of property around here. (no offence to Mrs Dumdad intended)
Blimey....I got confused just reading that!!!
C x
p.s. when I say 'dreaded Parisians' it's only because I'm so jealous of their elegance. You can always spot them in the supermarket, understated chic. You can also spot the Brits - I won't add anything to this.
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