UK -Supermarket chains will close on Monday's public holiday as a mark of respect for the Queen's funeral

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Amongst other businesses, Sainbury, Waitrose and Aldi have said they will close on Monday, as reported by the BBC.

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I wonder if that will cause a New England snow storm-like reaction - everyone rushing buy bread and milk - the day before.

By some weird coincidence, I watched “The King’s Speech,” a relatively old film on our flight home from Denmark in August. Don’t why I chose it when there were other more recent and compelling films that I wanted to watch. B and I often think I have a sixth sense and this was another data point towards that hypothesis.

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Not to mention it was a great movie that led me to read more about that era.

Given the extensive coverage here and the lowering of the flags in honor of the queen, perhaps we’ll get a holiday as well?

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I can’t recall but stores don’t normally close for a bank holiday do they? Don’t know why there should be a rush to buy as it’s one day. Very different when a storm is coming and you are afraid of being trapped by the after effect of the storm or stores not able to open due to power failures. I’ve always been amused by the use of the generic term bank holiday for holidays in the UK as contrasted to the US where every holiday has a name.

We’re closed tomorrow for a bank holiday.

What holiday?

Bank holiday.

In the US after the death of George Bush the powers that be have decided there will be no more market closings for the death of an ex-president. Was unpredictable but I had enjoyed those unexpected days off since Nixon.

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As you say, it’s a generic term for all the bank holidays. Each one does have its own name (although Monday’s won’t as it’s a one-off). The historical origins for the term is that, simply, these were days when the banks were closed. There’s only two days in the year when larger retail outlets have to close - Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

There are slight differences in Scotland and Northern Ireland but, here in England and Wales, the bank holidays are New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Early May Bank Holiday(used to be called May Day when I was younger), Spring Bank Holiday (Used to be known as Whit Monday), August Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

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In the U.S., when the stock markets and banks are closed, those are known as Federal holidays. This year, they are:

  • New Year’s Day: January 1
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: third Monday of January
  • President’s Day (George Washington’s Birthday): third Monday of February
  • Memorial Day: last Monday in May
  • Juneteenth: June 19
  • Independence Day: July 4
  • Labor Day: first Monday in September
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Day (also observed as Columbus Day): second Monday in October
  • Veterans Day: November 11
  • Thanksgiving Day: fourth Thursday in November
  • Christmas Day: December 25

However, many stores don’t close on most of these days - in fact, they’re considered “shopping sale holidays” and stores amp up their advertising for those specific days. And not all companies give all of these days off.

And convenience stores are always open for a smaller set period of hours on the major holidays, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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There’s supermarkets, and then there’s hospitals. I was surprised by this given what a nightmare scheduling anything is these days…

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Thanks for that, Linda. Love the idea of Juneteenth.

The UK has long wrestled, so far unsuccessfully, with creating an extra holiday in mid-autumn. The problem seems to be not so much its creation but its naming. All suggestions seem to offend one group of another. My personal vote would go to Armistice Day on 11 November which is already commemorated but not as a public holiday.

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The only ones I’ve come across as optional / floating are Columbus Day and Veterans Day.

I was trying to remember if Presidents day was floating for anyone I know, but I don’t think so, probably because of the optics (similarly MLK).

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My company gives Presidents’ Day and not MLK Day, because the latter is rather close to New Year’s Day. We also used to give Columbus Day as a possible holiday, depending on when the holidays fall (i.e., weekend day) but stopped that about 4 years ago. And we’ve not given Veterans Day as a holiday ever. We also have a pretty generous PTO policy, so if someone wants a day off that we don’t designate as a holiday, they can take one of those days. (Don’t recall it happening, however.)

And @Harters , Juneteenth is a brand new holiday in the States - first one was in 2021.

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If you’re old enough in the U.S. you’ll remember Washington’s & Lincoln’s birthdays were both holidays & schools were closed. The powers that be decided to combine them since they were so close together (2/12 & 2/22) into “President’s Day” & make it a 3 day weekend which would boost the economy. It’s the first major SALE day after the holidays.

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We didn’t get out of school for either president.
Now I’m upset!
:slight_smile:

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Stores will stay open in Canada on Monday. Trudeau is giving federal employees the day off. Some provinces are on board and some aren’t, and some are still deciding what to do at this time. Ontario is calling it a day of mourning but for everyone who isn’t a federal employee, it’s a regular work day.

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afbeelding
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British humour: people on drugs being interviewed at 3am… :slight_smile:

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McDonalds and Greggs will also close for the day.

So, no burgers or pasties for Monday lunch.

As I write (at 18.00 in the UK), the queue of folk waiting to pay their respects at Westminster Hall, stretches 4.2 miles with an estimated wait of at least nine hours. The queue is constantly moving, so folk have no opportunity to sit down during that time.

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I’ve been floored at the patience and orderliness of the Brits (although I shouldn’t be) in The Queue. How utterly organized it is - wristbands so your position is always documented and checked as you move forward, the fact that portable toilets, water and food and first aid stations have been set up along The Queue, tons of police keeping order.

I was listening to a local Boston radio station this morning, and the deejay said Americans were tweeting about the Brits waiting on lines that were (at that time) more than 3 hours long and how ridiculous it seemed. His response was “Give it a rest! As an American, YOU wait for 3 hours on line at Disney World to ride a rollercoaster for 2 and a half minutes! Let them come together to say thank you and goodbye to their monarch!” Sorry about those dumb Americans.

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I think the phrase goes “You ain’t seen nothing yet”.

Monday is going to be a policing nightmare, not least with so many foreign heads of state visiting and the risk of a “lone wolf” terrorist getting through the cordon. As you know, I’m in northwest England, some 200 miles away from London, yet we’ve had football matches cancelled this weekend - not as a mark of respect but simply because many of our cops have been sent to help out in London and it’s just not safe to run major events in the region under-policed.

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Makes sense that they’ve canceled matches. And yes, Monday will be insane for you all. But if anyone can manage it, Britons can.