When is spring bank holiday in the UK and 3 tips for what you can do
Everyone can agree that the UK bank holidays of April of 2020 have been accompanied by a frustrating feeling of being stuck—both physically and metaphorically. As if anyone had needed an extra day off to figure out what to do in their houses for another 12 hours of daylight or worse even, to think about when the COVID-19 situation would evolve. English bank holidays are normally popular for turning the weekend into a micro holiday, where people go from a usual chill Thursday evening to a smashing night out and an innocuous walk in the park into a daytime barbecue festival accompanied with litres of rosé wine. Now that we’re in May, bank holidays are usually the ultimate celebration of the new season flourishing, culminating in the spring bank holiday on Monday 25 May.
Quickly approaching, this date is leaving most of us wondering what is left to do in our house. Day drinking on a Monday afternoon doesn’t sound that fun anymore as it has been most people’s routine since the beginning of the quarantine. Meanwhile, the 30 day fitness challenges have been achieved and all that creative flow that turned us into knitting masters, masterpiece painters and DIY fashion designers has inevitably expired. So what could we possibly do during this upcoming bank holiday? We have put together three tips that may, or may not, help you accept that yes, you still need to spend 25 May inside the house.
Don’t get arrested
After two long months of pretending to enjoy learning new skills and following an activity schedule so full it could be compared to those of a Club Med in Greece, this upcoming bank holiday, you might be craving, like us, the simple pleasures of life such as going out and seeing your friends. The only problem is: you can’t. You are literally not authorised to meet up with a group of friends as for now, only people from the same household are allowed to go out together.
And we’ve witnessed this last VE Day in the UK when the number of arrests peaked throughout the country as more and more people improvised street parties, socialised in groups in parks and travelled through different counties with non-justifiable reasons.
We get it, after BoJo’s mixed signals on Sunday, many of us might believe it’s allowed to celebrate the late May bank holiday outside our homes as long as we remain “alert.” But as we all know by now, if there is one thing certain about this pandemic, it is that Johnson didn’t get a grip on it—or at least not soon enough. So put his loose advice of “staying alert” aside and stick to the COVID-19 lockdown rules in order to avoid any unnecessary complications or getting a fine you will certainly regret the day after. Instead, spend that money on a well-deserved bottle of vino.
Feel good about not doing anything
Everyone has been repeating this for weeks now but we are going to say it once more: it’s okay to not do anything. To support our argument, Refinery29 explained exactly why it’s ok to be bored and not productive in quarantine, mainly reminding us that the idea that ‘boredom is a privilege’ is not applicable to everyone, especially during these times.
If you’re lucky enough to be able to stay at home while many workers are out there facing unsafe working conditions, just relax, take it easy and indulge in things that make you feel good (or just indulge in whatever gets you through the day). These past two months have been emotionally and psychologically challenging, we’ll give you that. So if the mood isn’t great and you’re feeling apathetic, just go along with it. Accepting how COVID-19 has impacted you and getting to terms with it might be the first step to enjoying a decent bank holiday.
Celebrate it!
Last but not least, well done! We’ve all come a long way since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, so why not turn 25 May into the perfect excuse to celebrate being that close to three months in quarantine?
We all deserve an extra tap on the shoulder, because whether you’ve been actively working at the forefront of the COVID-19 crisis or you’ve done your part by simply staying inside, you nailed it! So, for this upcoming May bank holiday, treat yourself with whatever you consider being a treat—from an extra yoga class to binge-watching a series in, we give you free rein—just make sure to remind yourself that you’ve been amazing.
