Is Friday, November 1st (All Saints' Day) a Bank Holiday in England? Will museums and attractions be open or closed? Will the shops be open or closed? (That question is for my wife and daughter...)

No, we don't do saints here in England All our bank holidays are on Mondays, and are resolutely secular. (actually, I think Good Friday counts as a bank hol, but that't the only one I can think of).

Jonathan

Do you mean that Christmas isn't a bank holiday? Or that it's "resolutely secular?" Because I am quite confident that it doesn't usually fall on a Monday. I don't mean to be a nitpicker, but there are all sorts of holidays which might fall on a Monday. November 11? May 8? Guy Fawkes Day? Aren't these bank holidays in the UK?

Yes, I forgot about Dec 25&26! As to whether Christmas is "resolutely secular": well, it has a lot more of a secular feel about it here than in France or Italy.

quote:

---

November 11? May 8? Guy Fawkes Day? Aren't these bank holidays in the UK?

---

Nope. The Sunday nearest to Armistice Day has lots of special Remembrance Day services, but there's no holiday on the day itself. The monday after May 1 is the May Day bank hol; there's another Spring Bank Hol at the end of May (26th next year). But what happened on May 8? And much as we might want to emulate Guy Fawkes, there's no holiday to commemorate his non-achievment

Jonathan

May 8 is VE Day. As in 1945. It's a "ferié" (ie bank holiday) here in France, and civilisation as we know it comes to a standstill here -- save a few trumpet bands and municipal officials who pose for regional newspapers. Everyone else sleeps late and cities become modern ghost-towns. I suppose you're a Brit, so I'm a bit surprised you don't know about May 8; your grandparents probably remember it distinctly.

In the States, they've forgotten it completely. Go figure. Ask a yank what happened in 1945, they'd mostly shrug their shoulders, quoting a former president: "That's ancient history." Though I'm one of 'em, I was a history major, and I live "over there," so I've heard of these sorts of "esoterica."

quote:

---

I suppose you're a Brit, so I'm a bit surprised you don't know about May 8; your grandparents probably remember it distinctly.

---

Delighted to be taken for one so young! Actually, my grandparents died around 30-40 years ago, and my parents quite recently. All would undoubtedly have remembered the significance of May 8, but it's not commemorated at all in England these days (unlike the end of WW1, which survives as Remembrance Sunday, poppies, Queen laying wreath at Cenotaph, etc).

Jonathan

_______________________________________________
In the States, they've forgotten it completely.
Go figure. Ask a yank what happened in 1945,
they'd mostly shrug their shoulders, quoting
a former president: "That's ancient history."
_______________________________________________

You speak in generalities. I distinctly remember May 8th. I was at a baseball game with my grandfather, and when the good news came over the loudspeaker everyone stood and cheered. Ancient history perhaps, but there are those of us who were present when history was made and we haven't at all forgotten!