On the Thursday before Easter in 1948, people queued outside the Holsum Bread shop on George Street in Dunedin, New Zealand. The newspaper photograph preserved by Te Ara, the country’s government-supported encyclopedia, explains why the line mattered. From 1945, shop trading and bread-factory work had been organised around a forty-hour, five-day week. For many households, the consequence was stale bread in Monday sandwiches. The pre-holiday queue was therefore more than a rush for a popular product. A labour reform compressed baking and retail schedules, and families adjusted by buying before the long weekend. The people outside Holsum Bread were waiting for an everyday staple, but their Thursday line captured an unexpected point where shorter working hours, food freshness and household planning met.