Monday Mourning

I love a bank holiday. Not only is it a day not having to work, it’s a free day off unlike weekends which are full of chores to be done. Plus weekends come with that pressure of a Monday morning back at work. If you have a bank holiday, the first comment on arrival at my work is ‘Where did the Bank Holiday Monday go’ Whereas after a normal weekend as soon as you bump into colleagues over the water cooler, out comes the dreaded question ‘Did you have a good weekend?’

You know it is coming and so end up desperately trying to fill the weekend with excitement just so you have something good to report to your fellow co-workers. Yet sometimes for me, weekends are just a flurry of list making, shopping and ironing. At least we always have a trip to the pub at some point. To be fair though where I work it’s not hard to win the accolade of most fun weekend. Past highlights from colleagues include: the opening of a coffee shop in the nearest service station, washing the windows (with accompanying diagrams), and the purchase of a new label maker to label their kitchen cabinets (from a middle aged married woman not a student flat sharer)

I don’t think bank holidays come with that pressure. It’s not a weekend, it’s a free day off so therefore if you want to sit around all day in pyjamas watching back to back episodes of Criminal Minds then it’s ok. It’s not such a waste.

However living on a street where the average age is 125 means that to most of our neighbours every day is a bank holiday. Not for them a nice long lie in and a day in front of the television. Oh no, bank holidays are a great opportunity for socialising. Especially as Mondays are also bin day. I remember the good old days when bin collections used to be put back a day when it was a bank holiday, not anymore. 6 o clock in the morning and people are banging around putting the rubbish out. Despite the fact that I’ve never seen the bin people turn up before 11am apparently there is always that danger that if you don’t have it out by 7am you might miss it and that as we know would be a disaster, especially if it’s been a busy week for the chopper. (see here for explanation)

There is added excitement at the moment, as there are two empty houses on the street, which means empty dustbin space up for grabs. I suspect that the dustbins are the substitute water cooler for people round here. As soon as it gets light the neighbours meet at the end of the street to plan their bin attack. Any spare bit of space in any unguarded wheelie bin is filled with the rubbish of others. The neighbours might be old but they can’t half move fast when the wheelie bins go out.

I am aware that I may have become a little obsessed by the rubbish disposal on the street, luckily it happens on a Monday so I only get to indulge on a bank holiday. Imagine if it was a Saturday, and I had to answer the dreaded question, Did you have a nice weekend? Yes thanks I spent all Saturday observing the bin habits of my neighbours. I think its probably a good job I do have chores to be done on a weekend or this habit could get out of control.