It's a bank Holiday today.

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Today is a bank holiday in the UK. Officially there are 8 bank holidays each year with some variations in the UK. England & Wales have 8, Scotland has 9 & Northern Ireland has 10. This bank holiday is late spring bank holiday or Whitsun bank holiday as most bank holidays are religious based. We used to spend the day at the beach or visit a park. Bank holidays started off in the 1800's giving bank employees an extra days leave. Eventually it was adopted by businesses & schools. Although we have 8 bank holidays we are one country with the lowest number of holidays. Nepal has a staggering 35 bank holidays. There is only one day a year when it is against the law for large supermarkets to open & that is on Easter Sunday. They will be fined if they do so. In the last few years there are some supermarkets that do open as it is far cheaper to pay a fine than close for the day. This does not apply to Scotland. If you work a bank holiday you might get enhanced pay & a day off in lieu. I worked for 17 years before l had a Christmas holiday. It was really great to be off over the Christmas period & spend it with my family. In the last 15 years l worked no bank holidays which was really nice. Some people hate working bank holidays but there are others in need of the extra pay. Hospitals never close neither do people stop having accidents or having heart attacks so we all had to take our turns at working bank holidays. I used to prioritise those staff with young families. Having the time off to spend with their kids. How many bank holidays do you get where you live? I know it differs from country to country. How do you spend your holiday?