Easter Bank Holiday Wash-Out

I have the bank holiday blues. A term used to describe the total misery for the first day back at work after a long weekend that you were so looking forward to. My bank holiday blues are the ones where you get up on the day, of the bank holiday, look outside and realise, that yet again it’s raining, but I knew it would be.

I had my window open last night because dare I say it, it has been unseasonably warm, and I heard the unmistakable sound of raindrops pattering, no pounding on the glass, angrily doing its best to wake me up early on my Easter Monday lie in. The truth is the bank holiday is bittersweet. You long for it as you sit behind your desk at work imaging all the fun and frolics you and your loved ones will engage in, anticipating just a small tingle of warmth on your face, a soft touch of sand between your toes or attending a fete in a local country park. Or maybe you’re hoping that you and your fellow countrymen will be able to visit a museum, view a film or eat in a restaurant. More often than not they will be inaccessible.

The people in these places are just like you, feeling downright miserable wrapped up in waterproof jackets, giving up completely and drinking with a sense of urgency, because well why not? There’s nothing else to do. No point traveling in your car and getting bored and irate with your family stuck in a traffic jam, if you can be bothered to try it at all. It just reminds us that we live in a cold, overcrowded island where nothing really works and you get charged massive amounts of your hard earned cash on a pre-packed sandwich and a bottle of coke for about 8 quid!

So, in short, I think bank holidays are pretty crap unless you can afford to travel abroad. I do feel people should have days off, in fact, I think workers should get far more than they presently do, but why not stagger them a bit so we don’t have to deal with all of us descending in one fell swoop trying to find a spot to lay a towel on the beach, (if we happen to be lucky enough to have a sunny day, which occurs probably once per decade)

And for some reason the day before the bank holiday hits us, it fills people with some kind of need to stock up on bread and milk, because there’s a war on!….. Actually, that’s sarcasm. The shops are shut bank holidays; well they used to be, so everyone has to bulk buy for that extra day. Bizarre really, but there you go, that’s how it is.

So, up to now, my bank holiday has consisted of total boredom. I took the dog out in the pouring rain this morning dodging puddles and squelching in the mud.  When I returned home, I made a cup of hot chocolate, steaming to warm me up, and googled the opening times of my local supermarket and was surprised to notice that in fact, it’s open all day. So for something to do I popped down and was met by hundreds of people on their day off, looking totally fed up but made completely happy due to the reduced prices of the Easter eggs on offer. I couldn’t resist the waves of excitement of the crowds as we all put boxes of Easter eggs in the trolleys at 62p each. Bargain!

I can imagine all the people in my hometown this evening stuffing their faces with chocolate in front of their warm fires watching movies. I included 😉

x

Not a bad day in the end!