Are there newspapers on New Years Day? Do the shops open on Easter Sunday? Do trains run at Christmas?
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-01-01 09:31:18 - Graham EllisIn England, newspapers are published every day of the year, except Christmas Day ... and that's been the case since 1912, as you can see from this old post from the New York Times.
Train services in England run every day of the year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day (26th December).
And shops in England may open every day of the year - except that the larger stores are not allowed to be open on Christmas day nor on Easter Sunday (they are also limited to 6 hours per other Sunday).
In Scotland, the law and also common practice varies slightly ... and I understand from Lisa that - in the USA - it's different; papers are published on Christmas Day, for example ... and she was surprised to learn that's not happened in the UK for nearly 100 years.
Giving the newspaper folks Christmas off seems like a reasonable idea (though the journalists will tend to get Christmas Eve off, I guess as they'll be preparing the Boxing day paper while everyone else is eating their turkey. No trains on Boxing day strikes me as a bit of an "own goal" by the rail industry; it's a busy day for sporting fixtures and sales, and it shows just how mobile the country can be even without trains.
Happy New Year!. It looks like a later breakfast than usual at Well House Manor; we've sourced newspapers in a different way to usual as our usual stop wasn't open at 07:15, and it looks like most of the guests are sleeping in - but like all good service providers, we'll always take steps to ensure that we provide the service that we advertise even at holiday times. It never ceases to amaze me how some providers (such as the rail industry) have shocking problems providing the advertised service on a day like today (Melksham first train scheduled 09:20, but first train not now expected until 15:20), and how the papers this morning are talking about another train company - South Eastern - who stand accused of canceling loads of services rather than letting them run late to improve their performance statistics and reduce their compensation liability! [article]