Happy Spring Bank Holiday?

Today is a bank holiday Monday. I still haven't after all these years got my head around bank holidays and what they are for. Apparently it's not just about when banks are closed -- and of course they are on these days -- but also about the original legislation dating back to 1871 and whether current employment law requires essential emergency employees to be compensated for working those days or not. That's all I'm going to say about the matter except that in 1871 a Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act because he really liked cricket and thought bank employees should be able to attend matches when they were scheduled. I suppose that's as good a reason as any.

I've long been bemused by the fact that the US Embassy in London is shut both on American and British holidays. Different parts of Britain, being different countries, celebrate different holidays. I do my business in London and they have 15 public holidays. However, the embassies at Dublin and Edinburgh enjoy 19 public holidays, in addition to having more interesting accents. Just imagine having all these days off:

1 Jan	New Years Day	All
2 Jan	Hogmanay Bank Holiday	Scotland
19 Jan	Martin Luther King's BD	US
16 Feb	Washington's Birthday	US
17 Mar	St Patrick's Day	Ireland
10 Apr	Good Friday	UK
13 Apr	Easter Monday	UK
4 May	May Bank Holiday	UK
18 May	Victoria Day	Scotland
25 May	Spring Bank Holiday / Memorial Day	All
1 Jun	June Bank Holiday	Ireland
3 Jul	Independence Day	US
3 Aug	Summer Bank Holiday	GB
7 Sep	Labor Day	US
21 Sep	Autumn Bank Holiday	US (?)
26 Oct	October Bank Holiday	Ireland
11 Nov	Veterans Day	US
26 Nov	Thanksgiving	US
25 Dec	Christmas Day	All
26 Dec	St. Stephens / Boxing Day	GB

Having looked at all this, I can't help but wonder what sort of holidays they get at the offices of the European Union? Could explain why it takes them so long to get anything done...