Another Bank Holiday Weekend

Last bank holiday Monday I seem to recall moaning that, as I tended not to do much on bank holidays, I had nothing to post about.  This time around, if I hadn't been off of work, it would have been difficult to tell that it was a bank holiday.  Certainly, the TV schedules of the main channels simply didn't acknowledge the fact that the majority of people had the day off, sticking to their regular week day schedules.  Moreover, as has increasingly become the norm, all the shops seemed to open as usual, for their regular hours.  All of which is a pity.  I remember the days when bank holidays were a communal experience: everywhere was shut, encouraging people to go and do something other than shop.  And if the weather was too poor to go out, then the TV stations all had special bank holiday schedules to keep people entertained. 

But to get back to my bank holiday, when I was younger, I would have been out somewhere, trying to enjoy the countryside.  These days, though, I'm far more sedentary, preferring to enjoy my day off work and the long weekend it crowns by relaxing at home.  Besides, this bank holiday the sky looked constantly threatening of rain and I'd completely knackered myself by doing some 'gardening' yesterday.  A couple of hours weeding and turning over the soil on what used to be my short-lived lawn (the weeds swallowed it up over the winter - when I traditionally ignore the garden - so I'm going to have to start again, or maybe pave it over), was enough to leave me aching from head to foot.  So today I went back to this weekend's main preoccupation: laying the track on my model railway.  I've got quite a lot done: the main station area and the complex junction at its throat now has its track in place - it just needs ballasting and fixing down.  People are always surprised at how time consuming laying model railway track is, but everything has to be aligned correctly, otherwise derailments will ensue when you try running trains.

Now, I know laying model railway track doesn't sound an exciting way to spend a bank holiday weekend, but I've been waiting a long time to get to this stage of the project.  Other things just kept interrupting my attempts to get started, so it is hugely satisfying to get things moving at long last.  Besides, the railway and the gardening weren't the only things I've done this bank holiday weekend:  I've caught up with my reading, I've watched some old movies and I've drunk some beer.  Best of all, I haven't thought about all the crap going on at work which stresses me out so much.  so, all-in-all, a pretty successful long weekend.