MAY DAY AND BANK HOLIDAY IN U.K.

Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do? Also, this is my first visit during this time of year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.

Thanks for your advice.

Randy

May Day
It is treated as a bonus, a bit of a non-entity. I should not stop you
getting around.

You 'might' find something special going on, somewhere (prespecially tourist
areas), but otherwise lets hope it will be a mellow warm day with pubs and
sun and perhaps some walking.

Good luck with your trip.

--
John Owens
www.goodviews.co.uk
Fax +44 1509 890822

"Randall Rosenbaum" wrote in message
news:nvTKd.27901$EG1.8611@lakeread04...
Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the
end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do? Also, this is my first visit during this time of
year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.

Thanks for your advice.

Randy

My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the
May Bank Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting
May Day-related things we could do?

In London itself there will be events relating to the socialist
associations of May Day but I couldn't say what - the local papers
will tell you something, looking at flyposted posters will give
you other ideas. The Middle Eastern events are the most likely to
have reasonable food.

Most areas of Britain have folklore associations with May Day; there
are several books with folklore calendars that should identify places
with something interesting to see. Some of thse local customs are
pretty weird.

I once moved in to a room in Edinburgh on April 30. On looking out
of the bathroom window before dawn the next morning, I saw the garden
was full of small tents. It turned out that my landlady had a troop
of Brownie Guides camping in it before May Day morning every year so
they could get up and wash their faces in the dew on Arthur's Seat
(the nearby 800-foot hill in the middle of Edinburgh). After that
introduction, nothing she could do afterwards came across as out-of-
character eccentric. (Blair and Blunkett have probably found some
way to ban the Brownies from doing it now on grounds of potential
grass allergy or satanic ritual abuse)

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the
May Bank Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting
May Day-related things we could do?

In London itself there will be events relating to the socialist
associations of May Day but I couldn't say what - the local papers
will tell you something, looking at flyposted posters will give
you other ideas. The Middle Eastern events are the most likely to
have reasonable food.

Most areas of Britain have folklore associations with May Day; there
are several books with folklore calendars that should identify places
with something interesting to see. Some of thse local customs are
pretty weird.

I once moved in to a room in Edinburgh on April 30. On looking out
of the bathroom window before dawn the next morning, I saw the garden
was full of small tents. It turned out that my landlady had a troop
of Brownie Guides camping in it before May Day morning every year so
they could get up and wash their faces in the dew on Arthur's Seat
(the nearby 800-foot hill in the middle of Edinburgh). After that
introduction, nothing she could do afterwards came across as out-of-
character eccentric. (Blair and Blunkett have probably found some
way to ban the Brownies from doing it now on grounds of potential
grass allergy or satanic ritual abuse)

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:41:08 -0500, "Randall Rosenbaum"
wrote:

Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do? Also, this is my first visit during this time of year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.


May Day itself isn't a huge ceremony in the UK - in fact the May Day
bank holiday is a relatively recent innovation (sometime in the
1970s). A couple of years ago I attended a function where there was
dancing around a maypole - something that might be worth seeking out
though it isn't a specifically British tradition.

Your principal challenge in travelling over the May Day weekend is the
same as at any bank holiday, that hotels and bed and breakfasts in
tourist areas are likely to be very busy, and it may be worth making
an effort to book in advance

Martin

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:41:08 -0500, "Randall Rosenbaum"
wrote:

Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do? Also, this is my first visit during this time of year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.


May Day itself isn't a huge ceremony in the UK - in fact the May Day
bank holiday is a relatively recent innovation (sometime in the
1970s). A couple of years ago I attended a function where there was
dancing around a maypole - something that might be worth seeking out
though it isn't a specifically British tradition.

Your principal challenge in travelling over the May Day weekend is the
same as at any bank holiday, that hotels and bed and breakfasts in
tourist areas are likely to be very busy, and it may be worth making
an effort to book in advance

Martin

"Randall Rosenbaum" wrote in message
news:nvTKd.27901$EG1.8611@lakeread04...
Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do?

Well, you could join the anarchists, revolutionary socialists, and assorted
other loonies on their annual anti-capitalist march through central London,
trashing McDonald's and hurling missiles at the evil police, while city workers
jeer at them and wave their gold cards from their offices at a safe distance
above street level.

Or you could find a village where they dance around the May Pole on the village
green.

Also, this is my first visit during this time of year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.

It's not usually too busy at May Day time because it's only a single day off,
unlike all the other bank holidays it's not in the school holidays so it's
unlikely to be too much busier than at other times of the year.

--
Andy

Martin Rich writes:

On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:41:08 -0500, "Randall Rosenbaum"
wrote:

Hey, all. My wife and I are spending a week in London and environs the end
of April, beginning of May. The visit includes May Day AND the May Bank
Holiday. Does anyone have any suggestions on interesting May Day-related
things we could do? Also, this is my first visit during this time of year.
With the holiday, what challenges might we face getting around, seeing and
doing things, etc.


May Day itself isn't a huge ceremony in the UK - in fact the May Day
bank holiday is a relatively recent innovation (sometime in the
1970s).

The DTI refers to it as the "Early May Bank Holiday"
http://www.dti.gov.uk/er/bankhol.htm just in case anyone gets any ideas.

[...]

Des
wants an Imbolc Bank Holiday; preferably tomorrow