Bank Holiday Monday (May 4)

For anyone reading this who is not American, first let me explain the connotation of the term "bank holiday" for an American.  A "bank holiday" to an American is a bad joke.  It's the pathetic, sorry-excuse of a holiday that no one celebrates or gets off work unless you actually work in a bank or for the government.  Americans tend to distinguish between real holidays, like Thanksgiving and Independence Day, and not-real holidays, i.e., the bank holidays, like Presidents' Day.  Most of the time we forget the bank holidays even exist, until one of our friends posts something about it on Facebook or we wonder why our mail didn't get delivered or why the trash wasn't picked up.  Advertisements for furniture (especially mattress) sales always presage bank holidays, too.

For my American friends reading this, a "bank holiday" in the UK is a Big Freaking Deal.  There is only one type of holiday, and it's a bank holiday.  It's a statutory, public holiday that everyone gets as a day off, unless you are one of the poor unfortunates working in a service industry like grocery, dining or tourism.  But in general, most businesses shut down.  Mini-holiday getaways over the long weekend are common, but a lot of people just enjoy a "staycation" and stay at home to relax, work in the garden, whatever.

Having had some past experience with the frequency of German and French holidays, I had high hopes for the UK, but the British are fairly stingy with their bank holidays, as stingy as the Americans.  Most American companies I have worked for in my life give you at least 9 or 10 paid holidays.  In the UK, you only get 8!  For 2015, they are:

• New Year's Day (Jan 1)
• Good Friday & Easter Monday (Apr 3 and 6)
• Early May (May 4)
• Spring (May 25)
• Summer (Aug 31)
• Christmas Day (Dec 25) and Boxing Day (Dec 26)

If a holiday falls on a weekend, you get either the Friday or the Monday off instead as a 'substitute' day.

For the past few years, there has been debate about making St. George's Day (the feast day for the patron saint of England) a Bank Holiday as England's national day on April 23.  Apparently there are some concerns that this might offend the Scots, Irish or Welsh (or all of the above) as well as concerns about the economic costs associated with adding another statutory public holiday, so it hasn't happened yet.  I can't really see people getting excited about a patron saint who never actually even set foot in the country, but whatever.  If it's another day off of work, I am ALL for it.

If I could pick a day to get behind, personally, I would pick November 5, because that was the date that William of Orange (William III of England) landed in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution.  The Glorious Revolution was the last time that anyone ever successfully invaded and conquered England.  It was a bloodless event which arguably established the "modern" British monarchy by deposing a hold-out believer in the Divine Right of Kings (James II).  November 5 has the benefit of occurring during a time of the year that currently lacks any bank holidays.

So yesterday (Monday) was the Early May Bank Holiday.  Why a holiday on that day?  I'm not entirely sure, but I would guess it has something to do with May Day and just picking the first Monday in the month of May.  There are still a lot of May Day and Beltane celebrations around the British Isles.  They could have come up with a more interesting name than "Early May" holiday with some minimal effort, one would think.

Anyways, after my big city escape to Amsterdam the previous weekend, I decided that this holiday weekend I should just stay home and get caught up on things and relax.  I had the best kind of Monday imaginable.  I slept in, did very little and took a nap.  My big accomplishment was making a robust breakfast.

(I don't bother with tomatoes, mushrooms or black pudding with my brekkie.  Only the good stuff.)

It wasn't raining, so I felt like I ought to get outside for a little bit of sunshine and fresh air.  I ended up taking about a 1 1/2 mile walk around my neighborhood and down to the Stamford Park, which is a medium-sized city park a couple of blocks away.  The park was filled with families out enjoying the day and was very pleasant for a stroll.  The Friends of Stamford Park volunteer group has obviously worked very hard with the landscaping, and the Springtime blooms were beautiful.  I was enjoying observing the water fowl at the pond, when I had a WTF? moment.

It's just Mama and Papa Goose keeping watch over their goslings, right?  It's always heart-warming to observe protective animal parents.

This is normal behavior for Canadian geese; they've even been known to attack humans to protect their young.

...

Canadian geese.  WTF are Canadian geese doing in England???  Canadian geese are a nuisance.  If there is any one animal I would like to hunt for the sheer joy of killing it, it would be a Canadian goose.  I've heard they are not even tasty to eat; I don't care.  I just hate them.  Why are there Canadian geese in the UK?  Apparently, some idiot introduced them here back in the day, and now there is a well-established, wild, native population to poop on everything.  Go figure.

That was my Bank Holiday Monday.  I wish every Monday could be like that.  :-)