Bank holiday blues

We all love a bank holiday – an extra lie-in and a four-day week never do any harm. However, we’ve just had the last one until Christmas. That’s four months of long weeks with shorter days and worsening weather to look forward to before we get another break.

Indeed, in England we only get eight public holidays a year – there’s no independence or national day like 4 July in the US or Bastille Day in France. We compare quite poorly with other countries around the world – for example, the Americans enjoy eleven ‘federal’ holidays each year.

There are movements afoot to improve things over here. Campaigns to introduce holidays on St. George’s Day and St. David’s Day are gathering momentum, and new legislation increasing the national minimum holiday allowance is due to come in soon. Until then, we’ll count the days to Christmas…