Proper Bank Holidays

[GB72]

Aside from the somber and sad circumstances, yesterday made me realise how I miss a full on bank holiday. Some on where would not have experienced it but everything shut, everyone had a day off be it in retail, hospitality, the works (hat tipped to those in the police, NHS etc and the few essential workers need to keep the country and the infrastruture running).

I would like to see yesterday as a spring board for actually closing as much as possibel on bank holidays and allow people to have one relaxing day at home with family and friends every now and again.

 

[PJ87]

Aside from the somber and sad circumstances, yesterday made me realise how I miss a full on bank holiday. Some on where would not have experienced it but everything shut, everyone had a day off be it in retail, hospitality, the works (hat tipped to those in the police, NHS etc and the few essential workers need to keep the country and the infrastruture running).

I would like to see yesterday as a spring board for actually closing as much as possibel on bank holidays and allow people to have one relaxing day at home with family and friends every now and again.

I phoned my car dealer earlier about something.. apparently they were open yesterday!

 

[Neilds]

Aside from the somber and sad circumstances, yesterday made me realise how I miss a full on bank holiday. Some on where would not have experienced it but everything shut, everyone had a day off be it in retail, hospitality, the works (hat tipped to those in the police, NHS etc and the few essential workers need to keep the country and the infrastruture running).

I would like to see yesterday as a spring board for actually closing as much as possibel on bank holidays and allow people to have one relaxing day at home with family and friends every now and again.

Why do you need a bank holiday to do that?

 

[RichA]

Not keen on the idea of legislated, enforced relaxation. Personally, I'd happily see bank holidays scrapped and just get the extra days as annual leave to use when it's convenient for me.
Some of the activities I might choose to pursue on a day off work might require businesses to be open. I'm glad that Sundays are a bit more normal than they were 40 years ago.

 

[Orikoru]

Why do you need a bank holiday to do that?

Agree. "A relaxing day at home" sounds dull as ditchwater to me. Imagine trying to fill an entire day without anywhere being open. I'd imagine for those with young kids keeping them occupied at home might be even more difficult. If you want to stay at home on the bank holiday, then you can stay at home on the bank holiday. Why make everyone do it?

 

[BiMGuy]

Why does everyone else need to stop to allow you to have a good relaxing day off?

Not everyone finds just sitting around at home a relaxing way spend their free time.

 

[backwoodsman]

Where I am it was very quiet to start with yesterday - no surprise there - but by 4pm, so much was open, you would not have realised it was a bank holiday.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Fun, relaxing days often incorporate doing something, somewhere. For that to happen it often needs places to be open, people working in them. We don't need to be all off at once, the present system largely allows for that.

So that's a No from me

 

[Rooter]

Still had my bins collected on their normal day....

 

[Marshy77]

Realised I didn't have any rice for the curry I'd planned for tea. Had to wait until 5 before I could get some!!

 

[GB72]

The point I was making was that yesterday a significantly larger majority had the day off than on a normal bank holiday. This allowed those in areas such as retail and hospitality to have the same day off as everyone else and spend time with friends and family when they would, on a normal bank holiday, have been working. I have plenty of friends in and around the village who enjoyed the unusual event of having the same day off as their friends, family etc and being able to spend time with them rather than having a day off in lieu when everyone else is at work. But I guess that does not matter in the grander scheme of people wanting things open on bank holidays so aso they can do what they want on their day off.

Besides, plenty to do that does not need people working to facilitate. My reference to 'at home' did not necessarily mean literally and i may have been better to say 'not at work'.

Maybe me being old fashioned and I can live with that

 

[RichA]

The point I was making was that yesterday a significantly larger majority had the day off than on a normal bank holiday. This allowed those in areas such as retail and hospitality to have the same day off as everyone else and spend time with friends and family when they would, on a normal bank holiday, have been working. I have plenty of friends in and around the village who enjoyed the unusual event of having the same day off as their friends, family etc and being able to spend time with them rather than having a day off in lieu when everyone else is at work. But I guess that does not matter in the grander scheme of people wanting things open on bank holidays so aso they can do what they want on their day off.

Besides, plenty to do that does not need people working to facilitate. My reference to 'at home' did not necessarily mean literally and i may have been better to say 'not at work'.

Maybe me being old fashioned and I can live with that

I get what you're saying, but while it's a free day off for salaried workers like me, it's a day's pay lost for day/hour rate folks in retail and hospitality who might now be £100 short at the end of the month when the rent and gas bill are due.

 

[Oddsocks]

Aside from the somber and sad circumstances, yesterday made me realise how I miss a full on bank holiday. Some on where would not have experienced it but everything shut, everyone had a day off be it in retail, hospitality, the works (hat tipped to those in the police, NHS etc and the few essential workers need to keep the country and the infrastruture running).

I would like to see yesterday as a spring board for actually closing as much as possibel on bank holidays and allow people to have one relaxing day at home with family and friends every now and again.

Absolutely! Popped out to get breaky and a coffee yesterday, everything shut except Costa.

It was nice to get a Costa but at the same time I’ve kinda lost the respect for them when everything else was closed. Reminded me of the traditional Christmas Day and I’m all for it!

 

[GB72]

I get what you're saying, but while it's a free day off for salaried workers like me, it's a day's pay lost for day/hour rate folks in retail and hospitality who might now be £100 short at the end of the month when the rent and gas bill are due.

Get that as well, and that is a fair argument and one that woudl need to be discussed amongst the workforce. Certainly a point I can accept and one I would take into account above the argument that just because someone wants to do something on a bank holiday, people should be working so as they can do it. If people want to work, or even need to work as they cannot make up the loss in extra shifts later in the week then that is a solid point and far appart from being made to work.

 

[jim8flog]

I'll always remember as a kid getting Christmas presents that required batteries without them in the box and having to wait until the day after Boxing day to get them.

My Dad was an ambulance driver and there were many Christmas Days without him most of the day . Christmas lunch was very much a moveable feast.

On a personal note, much like this Monday, I know where I will be on bank holiday Monday so it makes no difference to me.

When I worked I had to change my entire schedule every Bank Holiday Monday, after a few years of doing that I stopped working nearly every Monday daytime because it was the easier thing to do and set up a new schedule to suit.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I think when you choose to work in retail or hospitality then you know the score when it comes to working bank holidays.

Presumably, those working will get that day carried over to a time of their choosing, or get paid a higher rate for the day, so whilst they miss out on that actual day they don't miss out overall.

 

[BrianM]

For the last 15 years for me, if the bank holiday falls on my rota, I’m working.
In fairness we got treble time for Xmas day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day.
Pays for your summer holiday.

 

[Jason.H]

Thankfully our golf course was open so played early then did a couple of jobs around the house.

 

[Oddsocks]

I miss the traditional Christmas bank holiday for sure.

Xmas eve- fruit veg shopping done by 8am, then into local shopping centre for last minute bits as the shops shut at 3.

Xmas day, as other have said you had to get to the petrol garage by 12 for batteries as they closed and everything else was already closed.

Boxing Day was always Sunday hours of open at all.

The above days are just normal days now, I can’t believe how many shops open as normal including take aways. Christmas had lost its mass appeal as people rarely get the option to enjoy it.

 

[Voyager EMH]

OP has a great idea.

I would like his idea of nothing open to be a Saturday.

That might give us reason to contemplate all those people who work at weekends all the time and keep things open for our pleasure.

Give them a Bank Holiday and make it a Saturday.
No pubs, clubs, cinemas, restaurants, etc etc.