robin1234

Many workers in the US do not get all Federal Holidays as days off. I work at a university, and do not get the holidays that fall within the regular semesters (I think there are four, including today, Presidents' Day.) Aside from that, we (people who work in higher ed.) get a relatively good deal in terms of vacation time etc.

Back to the Royal affairs, I am a monarchist and generally supportive of poor old Prince Charles etc. I've always liked the quirky royals (Phil the Greek and the late Princess Margaret for instance.) but I have a very bad feeling about Will & Kate. She looks completely self-serving and vacuous, he looks like an idiot.

paddingtongreen

Beckham has an invite to the wedding!

robin1234

Yes, another pair of vacuous twits.

Malashaan

I do half suspect people care more over here than back in Britain. I'm certainly highly amused every time I go to the grocery store to see the daily royal scandal being reported on in the US tabloids that not even the Sun back home has picked up on

I do come from a particularly un-royal family in a particularly un-royal area though. I do gather there are still bastions of royal fervor in England lol.

taffie77

So who else is getting targeted marketing at the bottom of the thread "Kate Middleton Ring - Replica 18K Sapphire & Diamond Ring For Just $99 - Must See!"?

Derrygal

I'll second that!!

Lothianlad

Regarding public holidays the UK lags a wee bit behind most Continental countries in that respect where religious festivals and local festivals are more prominent - all Roman Catholic countries, for example, have Ascension Day as a public holiday, unlike the UK, but at least most, if not all, uropean countries recognise May Day as a public holiday - in the UK itself it's the Monday following the 1 May.

I think one of the main differences between the UK and the USA is the time off work people are granted over the Christmas and New Year holidays. I believe that 26 December (Boxing Day here in the UK) is a normal working day in the USA. Much of UK industry closes down over the entire Christmas/New Year persion, from 24 December, or even a day or two beforehand) to the day after the 01 January New Year holiday - in Scotland that's Hogmanay, with 02 January also talen as a public holiday as Scottish hangovers take longer to recover from....

Commerce and finance and banking etc however continue to operate from 27 to 31 Dec, as do all shops and stores but Boxing Day usually sees the start of the "January Sales" anyway.

This year sees this crazy situation take place vis a vis public holidays:

The next public holiday will be Good Friday, 22 April - no official day off until then - 59 days away from now.

Then comes the following Monday - Easter Monday 25 April

Then the following Friday - 29 April - you know what takes place at Westminster Abbey - a day off for all but essential services staff.

Then comes the following Monday 02 May - the May Day Bank Holiday.

Exactly for weeks later another Bank Holiday - Monday 30 May - Spring Bank Holiday.

A clutch of five public holidays in the space of little over one month.

Then a long stretch at work until Monday 01 August here in Scotland only (late Summer Bank Holiday) and the same in England and Wales only on Monday 29 August.

Then from then on nothing at all until Christmas and New Year. Many people in the UK have petitioned for one of those sping holidays to be tranferred to a period half way between August and December as some kind of "mid way break" with late October, around the 25th, being favoured and possibly called Trafalgar Day, but that may offend our close neighbours the French and the Spanish, but that would be ridiculous as the French have nevr, to my knowledge, objected to the fact that one of London's main railway termini is called Waterloo.

Apparently the Obamas have not received an invitation to The Wedding, but hardly surprising is it? But they are paying a State Visit to the UK in the near future and will actually be guests of the Queen for the duration of their stay here. It remains to be seen whether Mrs Obama places her arm around the Queen's waist as she so brazenly did the last time the Os were over here, being either blissfully unaware of "Royal protocol" in the UK or deliberately choosing to ignore it by assuming that, as America's (elected) "First Lady" she was on an equal footing with our (unelected but there by accident of Royal birth) "First Lady" Queen Elizabeth II.

It's never been exactly clear whether Liz was "amused" or not when Mrs O got so "outrageously" matey with Her Majesty, like they were the best of friends.

Mallory

Apparently the Queen asked Mrs Obama to "stay in touch," so she did!

another bloody yank

The Bride comes from humble coal mining roots.

Not sure if the link will work so bear with me...

http://www.yahoo.com/_ylt=AjzEz4e0XH...roots-24393955


EDIT: Seems to work for me.

Desdemona

The humble mining roots were way back several generations ago apparently. Her Dad was a pilot for an airline and her Mum a stewardess for the same airline (the way I remember reading it in a mag I bought- I may not be 100% accurate here, someone will correct me if I'm wrong). But her folks are self-made millionnaires !! So Kate has had a privileged upbringing! And not quite, rags to riches ...

Jerseygirl

Her dad was a despatcher for an airline not a pilot...but pilot sounds more impressive when you're social climbing.

Brucky

A local artist where I come from, Newcastle, has made 'sick bags' for the Wedding! 'Throne Up' is printed on them, lol.

My USC Wife and her family want these so I've bought and posted them the other day.

Desdemona

There we have it from a Leeds girl To be fair, it was a USA Today mag I bought here in the US that made the claim. Wiki has him down as despatcher. Must be quite bewildering all the publicity for her folks who seem like modest people and for the village of Upper Bucklebury where she comes from ....

Jerseygirl

Wrong again...Sheffield.

Jerseygirl

Sheffield not Leeds.