Working out the holidays muddle

DID you have any problems on Monday? Not just the general getting out of bed at the beginning of the week problem. More like problems getting things done. For instance I'd lugged in two suits to take to the dry cleaners on the way to work. Closed. I also had a pile of parcels to drop off at the Post Office on St Mary's Street. Closed.

It took an Edinburgh-born-and-bred colleague to explain - it was a holiday. Mind you, she only knew because when her father-in-law picked up her son from nursery on Friday, they'd asked if he'd be in on Monday. Seeing as it was a holiday they wanted to know what numbers they could expect.

So a holiday it was - but a bank holiday or a public holiday? And why would September 18 qualify as either for some of Edinburgh's employees? Trying to contact the council, which sets the dates, for some information was no help - they were, er, on holiday.

But Professor Charles Munn, the executive in charge of the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers, which includes the Bank of Scotland and the Royal Bank of Scotland, managed to clear up some of the confusion.

Monday wasn't a bank holiday. Bank holidays have a very precise definition, set out in an Act of Parliament in the 19th century and last updated in 1971. This lays down days which are "bank holidays". But as Prof Munn explains: "Banks are not actually required to close on a bank holiday. The law just allows them not to do certain types of business, such as clearing cheques." The 1971 law laid down different bank holidays for Scotland and England, which proved impractical for UK-wide banks.

"So about 20 years ago, the Scottish banks decided it would be more convenient to have the same holidays as the rest of the UK," says Prof Munn. "They tried to get parliamentary approval for a change for about ten years. They didn't get it so about nine years ago they decided just to do it anyway."

As a result there are nine "bank" holidays in Scotland - although there should only officially be eight, but the majority close on Easter Monday to harmonise with the English banks, as well as taking January 2 off, which isn't a bank holiday down south.

Of course none of this means anything to many customers these days who do their banking over the internet or by talking to a call centre in India.

But Monday wasn't a bank holiday. No, this was a local public holiday, set by Edinburgh City Council. It is officially termed the Autumn Public Holiday and is one of two local holidays for Edinburgh - the other is Victoria Day, on May 22 this year - held in honour of Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24.

Glasgow's days are slightly different: May 29, which in a more republican spirit is just termed the Spring Holiday, and its Autumn Day, which is next Monday. There was no explanation forthcoming from the council as to why Monday was made a holiday, but others have theories, such as the dates being decided by local chambers of commerce - which is not the case, according to Graham Bell, press officer with the Edinburgh chamber.

He does admit, however, that the chambers were originally responsible, back in the dim and distant 19th century, for beginning the whole local holiday tradition.

Once upon a time when nearly all of us worked in agriculture, holidays were set by the season - harvest-time you were frantically busy, depths of winter you were sat in your hut whittling bits of wood and wondering whether to slaughter the last cow. But then came the Industrial Revolution and the discovery that workers could be forced to slave all day, every day whatever the weather. And as annual leave entitlement was a 20th century dream, public holidays were introduced as a way of giving workers a break.

Few people had day-to-day dealings with other towns so it didn't matter if they had different days off. And it was a chance for Edinburgh folk to catch up with friends and family while parading up and down Princes Street in their Sunday best or descending en masse to Portobello.

Of course times have changed, and not everyone wants to shut up shop on these designated days, so the result is that a lot of public organisations are closed, while many in the private sector remain open for business.

And fewer families all live, work and go to school in the same council area - or their children are at council nurseries or schools which are shut but their private employer isn't.

In fact, Graham says, many chamber members, particularly the smaller firms, don't close.

"It's the large public sector organisations which take the Edinburgh holidays. The average private sector company can't afford to," he says.

Soon though, one Edinburgh holiday might disappear if MSP Dennis Canavan's Bank Holiday Bill going through the Scottish Parliament becomes law. Local authorities would be asked to give up one of their local days to make November 30, St Andrew's Day, a bank holiday.

But they wouldn't be obliged to - and nor would employers be obliged to give staff the day off.

So will this be a step towards ironing out the public holiday chaos with at least one nationwide holiday? Or will it just add another layer of confusion to the whole situation? Hmm, I wonder.