Victoria Day has a
variety of names. May 24th weekend. May two-four. The two-four
weekend – as if it had been named for the number of beer bottles in the case.
My first trip to
Europe was in May 1982 – the year of the Falklands War. I had booked my coach
tour of the United Kingdom in January. The war started in April. Of course I
didn’t have travel insurance. I couldn’t afford it.
Not that I would
have cancelled anyway. I was finally going to see some of the places – and some
of the things – I had studied in school. I had saved for a long time. Well, it
seemed like a long time to me at the age of 25. Nothing was going to prevent me
from going to Europe.
I arrived in London
in mid-May and took off to see the country. May 24 was a Monday that year and,
that day, I passed by a bank. It was a lovely day, warm and sunny, and the
doors were propped open. I peered inside and it looked just like one of the
sets from Mary Poppins. Feeling a
trifle bemused, I wandered in. No customers were in line and the pleasant
teller asked if she could help me.
“You’re open,” I
said, gazing around at the most beautiful bank I’d ever seen.
“Yes,” she replied,
appearing a trifle puzzled but smiling.
“But it’s Queen
Victoria’s birthday!” I blurted.
“Is it really?” she
asked. Another teller joined her, also smiling.
I closed my eyes
when the realisation struck me. How stupid could I be? Of course Britons
wouldn’t celebrate the birthdays of dead monarchs. They would end up with over
40 holidays a year – and that’s just since 1066! That’s when I realised why
Canada celebrates Victoria Day. Queen Victoria was the monarch on the throne
during all the years of negotiations leading up to when we actually became a
country.
The differences
between, say, Canada and the United States? I was already accustomed to those.
I lived an hour’s drive from a bridge to the U.S., after all. They made sense
to me. But I guess that, being part of the Commonwealth, it hadn’t occurred to
me that Victoria Day wasn’t celebrated in other areas. Duh!
Just call me a stupid colonial. (I’m smarter
now.)
