Well what a lovely long weekend surprise. I keep forgetting that the 1st of November is a national French holiday here. And in France they love their ‘bridge days’. They say ‘faire le pont’ (to make the bridge). A bridge day is a day taken as holiday after a holiday. Or before.
Unlike in say the US or UK where most official holiday days fall on a Monday, in France they fall on, well, whenever. Thursday is common, sometimes Wednesdays, occasionally a Monday. If the official holiday is on a, shall we say, Tuesday, like this week, generally ‘everyone’ (if they can) takes the Monday off as well. That’s a bridge day. It bridges the break from/to the weekend. Get it?
More often than not (except in the service industry) a company will give it as an additional holiday. It took me awhile today to realise why the village was so quiet. It felt like a Sunday. And then I realised it was because the various businesses in the village were closed.
Sadly, working for yourself (that’s us) doesn’t garner these same privileges. But also, I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (what a weird saying – anyone know where it comes from?) and took my own French holiday bridge day to get a variety of those odds and ends, that seem to pile up, done.
PS
Would you like to learn a little more on the curious and fun findings of France?
French Stereotypes and Misconceptions
Baguettes Croissants and Breakfast in France
Learning French using Cognates
And a further taste of France from Our Shop of quirky or particularly ‘it’s very French’ items:
(Simply click on an image to see more.)