Ban Bank Holidays
We all love a holiday but there is no pleasure in the modern “Bank Holiday”.
Bank Holiday Mondays are now associated with slow traffic, lengthy queues, heaving shops, leisure facilities full of screaming youngsters and overcrowded tourist attractions. In this 24/7/52 generation there is no need for everyone to take a holiday on the same date any more.
Do the banks need this day to close and do things that otherwise would be difficult or impossible if they were open? Even if they do why do the rest of us need to suffer?
Perhaps it is good to celebrate Christmas and New Year with general public holidays, except for essential services. And some have argued that specified Bank Holidays help enforce holidays for exploited workers who would otherwise not get one. Who are these people though? How do we know they get any time off on a “bank holiday” either? With so many shops and eateries open to catch the trade, the poor exploited people suggested to benefit may be the very ones working flat out all day to serve the massing crowds.
I’d rather have my holidays at a time of my own choosing when things are open normally and not so crowded to be no fun.
In the past I have worked for large companies that never closed down, even on Bank Holidays. So I do know the odd feeling of driving along eerily deserted roads on my way to work. Any negativity associated to this feeling was offset by a smug knowledge that I’d be missing out on the chaos and jams that would arise shortly when the world got out its lazy bed. I could take time off when it suited me.
Some traditions are good. But sometimes we need to recognise when something isn’t working and make a change.
