in the uk we make nearly all of our bank holidays fall such that they make long weekends. we have a day off for mayday, which should be may the first, but we just take the first monday in may off instead. the only exception is for christmas, boxing day and new year’s day which are always december 25th and 26th and january 1st. unless those days fall on a weekend in which case we move them to the monday and perhaps the tuesday too. in fact all the other holidays are mondays except for good friday (bet you can’t guess what day that is? ;-) ).

in the us they are more wayward and take their public holidays wherever they fall. they put thanksgiving on a thursday, i don’t know why. and they take their independence day holiday wherever the fourth of july falls. so they get wednesday off. i mention this only because it’s hot and stuffy and i want wednesdays off too.