Monday bank holiday

[Patf]

There has been some discussion in the french press about this which I don't completely understand. Will people be working? Will the shops/markets be open? There was also something about wages being donated to charitable institutions. It's for Mayday carried over from Sunday. Pat.

[Alan]

No monday will be a normal working day, wife has got thursday off and then has to take a pond ( wrong spellin) on friday the 6th. must admit i have not seen the article in the press but the wife has not said anything about the wages being donated

[BJSLIV]

After the heatwave two years ago, it was decided that more needed to be done to protect the elderly. The government came up with the ruse, that to pay for it, everybody would work one day extra with no additional pay, therby increasing national GDP. This was to be achieved by giving up one days holiday, and the Whitsuntide holiday was to be eliminated. However after much lobbying it was  decided that this was too inflexible.So it was agreed that areas, companies, authorities could agree to give up any holiday that suited. So at Easter it was pretty shambolic in places where some shops and authorities  decided to open as their contribution while others in the same street remained closed.

Likewise some schools opened , but the parents were off so the kids didn't turn up. TV showed schools where the kids spent the day playing games as there were too few , perhaps 20%, present to make serious lessons worthwhile.

The same pattern will no doubt be repeated next week in some areas, and again at the end of the month for Pentecote.

It gives you a nice warm feeling doesn't it?

 

[Tourangelle]

Mayday being carried over from Sunday, I wish. No way, unfortunately French bank holidays are always on the day they are on. When Christmas was a Saturday last year, well, that was it, a Saturday, no extra time. I think Alan is getting the jeudi de l'ascenscion mixed up with the lundi de Pentecote, (sorry can't spell) - that's Whit Monday. Up until this year both have been holidays, but the government wants to get rid of Whit Monday and has made a right hash of it, as usual. Cue lots of disgruntled French people especially since usually May 1 and 8 are bank holidays and they both fall on a Sunday and are therefore 'lost'.