October 2027: five full weekends, Friday to Sunday
Dispatch, October 2027: the month opened on Friday 1 October, and the rugby took the stage at once. The first 24-team World Cup began that day at Perth Stadium, with Australia meeting Hong Kong. Cricket followed on Saturday 2 October, its own World Cup opening across South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Between them the two tournaments will outlive the month, which holds 31 days, five full weekends and 21 business days.
The frame of the month
October 2027 runs from Friday 1 October to Sunday 31 October, across ISO weeks 39 to 43. Count 21 business days and ten weekend days, the deepest weekend haul of the year's second half. A month that begins on a Friday hands you a weekend on day two. The month spends its spare change on Saturdays and Sundays, which is a defensible choice.
Five Fridays fall on 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29 October. Five Saturdays follow on 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 October. Five Sundays complete the set on 3, 10, 17, 24 and 31 October. No other weekday manages five, and the weekends do not gloat.
Two World Cups and a book fair
Rugby's first 24-team tournament runs six weeks, from Friday 1 October in Perth. The final follows in Sydney on Saturday 13 November. Cricket's 10-team marathon began on Saturday 2 October and ends at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Sunday 21 November. October is the group-stage month: constant matches, none of them finals.
The publishing trade decamps to Frankfurt from Wednesday 6 to Sunday 10 October, with Chile as Guest of Honour. On Sunday 10 October, about 50,000 runners take Chicago's streets in the marathon. The World Series opens with Game 1 on Friday 22 October. A Game 7, if needed, would fall on Saturday 30 October.
A moonless closing weekend
First quarter arrives on Thursday 7 October. The full moon follows on Friday 15 October, and last quarter on Friday 22 October. The remaining phase is the useful one: the new moon of Friday 29 October leaves the closing weekend dark, cloud cover permitting.
Stargazers get a moonless Saturday and Sunday to close the month. The 13th of October falls on a Wednesday, so the month's superstition budget goes unspent. Europe's clocks go back an hour on the morning of Sunday 31 October, and North America waits another week. The evenings close in, which they had coming.
Europe wakes on Sunday 31 October with an extra hour, no moon overhead and two World Cups still running. October ends mid-tournament, in credit.