October 4

On the 4th in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, with a single shot from his starter’ pistol,[1] started the ball rolling for his eponymous calendar, which is the calendar predominately used to this day. As jaded as we have become we take many things for granted. For instance, we assume that October 4 will be followed by October 5, which in turn will be closely followed by October 6, and then 7, and so on and so on. Well until October 31 of course since October only has 31 days, though that may very well change if I have anything to say about it. Such was not always the case. In 1582, October 4 was immediately followed by October 15. If you had a busy social calendar in the latter days of the 16th Century and had scheduled an event for October 11, you were probably going to lose your security deposit because in 1582 there would simply not be an October 11. Don’t even think about rescheduling for the 15th because it is amazing how quickly things sell out.
[1] considering all that has been happening in the last few weeks, perhaps it might be best to leave out references to the Pope and firearms, even if the reference is centuries old.