girlyswot

It has not snowed here (yet). They are predicting snow showers later in the day and overnight, though nothing on the scale of the snow that seems to have brought most of England skidding to a halt. Anyway, it seemed like a good idea to go to Tesco's now, rather than wait until later. So I got there at about ten to nine, only to find it shut. Which seemed a little odd. We have a 24 hour Tesco in Dingwall, though (for the benefit of US readers who might think that implies 24/7) it is, of course, closed on Sunday nights. I was surprised that it hadn't opened earlier on Monday morning, though.

There was a little crowd gathered waiting for it to open at nine, so I waited and then did my shopping very quickly in the nearly empty supermarket. When I came out, I noticed a sign: Public Holiday, Feb 2nd, Opening Hours 9am - 6pm. Hmm, I thought, glad I didn't wait until later. And also, public holiday? What on earth for?

So I came home and looked it up. Ah. Not a bank holiday. Nor even a holiday to celebrate a particular event.

Oh no. In Scotland, public holidays are decided randomly and on local whim. I particularly like the line: "bank holidays in Scotland are neither public holidays nor the days on which banks are closed."