A surprise holiday

This morning felt different, sounded different. It turns out that it’s a school holiday, so no bus, no delightful running children with bags and coats hanging half off. And Monday is a Scottish Bank Holiday for St Andrew’s Day. I am given the gift of an unexpected long weekend.

I’ve been taken by surprise by bank holidays in other countries – days with names that mean nothing to me but lots to everyone else. Days when you’re not quite sure which shops are open and for how long – the bakery closes at 12 or only the small grocers open or the banks are closed and everything else is open.

Not that it makes much difference when you don’t have a 9-5 job to go to, or children to get ready for school. And yet it did make a difference to how the day felt and that made a difference to how I feel – more relaxed, more at ease. You may recognise that feeling from holidays and snow days.

from an original painting by Lynne Cameron

So if every day has started feeling rather the same as every other day, why not give yourself a surprise bank holiday? You could read that book that’s been waiting and sit all morning if you want to. You could do the little jobs around the house that have been building up and enjoy the good feeling it gives you. My coffee tasted better for having planted the roses that had been waiting in the shed. You could open the mince pies as if today is their day – or make yourself a special cake. You could choose a holiday film or cultural broadcast event and set aside the late afternoon as it grows dark to be cosy and comfortable and entertained.

The painting and poetry writing and other must-dos can wait awhile. Enjoy your holiday and let yourself relax. And notice what rises to the surface.