It's Oz Day on Tuesday the 26th. - that's in 4 days time. A public holiday held - like Anzac Day - on the actual declared date and not on the Monday closest to it. There's no official long weekend, in other words.
Yet, like millions of other Aussies, I will be having a 4-day long weekend.
The company that I work for has decided that on Monday the office will not open and we will take a day out of our annual leave, thereby giving us an extended break.
Not that I object, mind you. I think it makes sense because, in this Land of the Long Weekend, there will be a heck of a lot of people who will do the same thing whether their employer closes their business or not.
Many years ago - back in the 1980's - the company I worked for had a new Managing Director (they weren't called "CEO's" back then) come down from the USA. Fred was his name and Fred hadn't a clue about Australians, our idiosyncracies, our "sensayuma" or our public holidays.
He wanted to have a meeting with some people here in Canberra and I was asked to set it up on a particular date.
Unfortunately the date that Fred preferred fell on Canberra Day - a local public holiday - so that buggered his plans.
Then Easter interfered with his alternate choice, so that frustrated him too.
So finally, when he chose Anzac Day and was told that was also a public holiday he lost his cool and blew a fuse, berating the Australians for having too much leisure time.
That little performance was followed up by a few other examples of his intolerance over the next couple of years and he left our shores without regret, I'm sure.
I know that we didn't regret seeing him go.
Anyway - a happy Oz Day to one and all and may you slip on a shirt, slop on the sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek some shade and slide on the sunnies, because it looks as if it's going to be a scorcher.
Enjoy a lamb chop and a coldie!
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