July 2027: five Saturdays and a fortnight of finals
Dispatch, July 2027: the month opened on Thursday 1 July with 31 days and sport stacked to the rafters. The tennis finished first: Wimbledon's 150th Championships closed with the men's final on Sunday 11 July. Four days later, The 155th Open began on the Old Course at St Andrews, on Thursday 15 July. Two landmark editions inside one fortnight, and the rest of the month has kept the pace, our correspondent finds.
Thirty-one days, counted
July 2027 runs 31 days, from Thursday 1 July to Saturday 31 July, and carries ISO weeks 26 to 30. You get 22 business days and nine weekend days. A Thursday start brings the first weekend quickly, on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 July. For a month with five Fridays, five Saturdays and five Thursdays, the arithmetic feels almost generous.
Five Saturdays fall on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 July. Five Fridays follow on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 July. Thursdays complete the set on 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 July. The other four weekdays appear four times each, which is the polite average.
A British blockbuster of a fortnight
The Tour de France set out from Edinburgh on Friday 2 July, stage one measuring 185 km to Carlisle. It was the race's third start on British roads, and the opening weekend rolled through Scotland, England and Wales. The race then spends three weeks winding towards Paris. Rooms in Edinburgh were snapped up long ago, which surprised nobody.
The Ashes held the middle of the summer. The third Test ran at Edgbaston from Thursday 8 July, and the fourth at The Oval from Friday 16 July. Five days of cricket at a time is a commitment, and the month honours it twice. Cricket fills the spare evenings.
The month even schedules the sofa. Comic-Con begins its Preview Night in San Diego on Wednesday 21 July, with the main days from Thursday 22 July. A Minecraft film sequel reaches cinemas on Friday 23 July, for households negotiating the television.
Sundays worth circling
Sunday 18 July is the month's crossword answer. The Open concludes at St Andrews, and the World Aquatics Championships finish in Budapest. That night the full moon slides through Earth's penumbral shadow in a faint lunar eclipse. Three endings on a single date is almost showing off.
On Sunday 25 July the Tour finishes on the Champs-Élysées and Formula 1 races at Spa in Belgium. The Women's World Cup final kicks off at the Maracana the same day. On Friday 30 July the Tour de France Femmes rolls out of Leeds for its own week of racing. The wall planner has earned its keep.
From Edinburgh on the first Friday to Paris on the last Sunday, July 2027 keeps its fixtures in order. The full moon of Sunday the 18th lands in the middle of everything.