After the long winter months, most of us are looking forward to the warmer days that spring should bring. It should, although this year we are still not saying goodbye to hats and scarves, despite the approaching May. For a month now, Poles have been checking the long-term weather forecasts for the first days of the said month, because a number of important events fall on this very time: Labor Day, the National Holiday of the Third of May… and, above all, May Day, the great national long weekend, a holiday of barbecues and excursions, a time of total overcrowding of all places of recreation and leisure.
Long weekend in the past and today
The term “long weekend“ appeared in our country in the second half of the 1970s, when one free Saturday per month was introduced – so it referred to what we now have in the allotment every week (as long as we work single-shift Monday through Friday). It is inconceivable to modern generations that just a few decades ago a “long weekend” was simply one free Saturday and Sunday per month. It is certain that in the event of the idea of those in power to return to that system, the people would come out to the barricades.
Nowadays, a “long weekend” is called a time when a day adjacent to Saturday and Sunday is a statutory holiday, and employees often additionally choose to take a few days off to extend their rest. While in the case of such extended days off falling during Christmas, Easter and All Saints’ Day, most of us are focused on fulfilling our domestic duties and remain at our place of residence or go to visit family, the time off in May is governed by completely different rules. It is not accompanied by religious rituals, it is not bound by the conventions of tradition that require us to bake mazurkas, organize Christmas Eve dinners or burn candles in cemeteries – it is simply free time in the circumstances of nature waking up after winter and the first really warm days, so it is no wonder that Poles try to use it for trips to the sea or the mountains, for meetings in city beer gardens or simply for outdoor recreation.
International transportation during May Day
Of course, there are workplaces that cannot be completely closed on any of the holidays. These include hospitals, gas stations, animal shelters, public transportation… and transportation. Drivers in international transportation often spend May Day on the road or at a stopover many miles from home. On the one hand, this means separation from loved ones, but it also provides an opportunity to visit new places and explore – a definite perk of being a driver. On the occasion of their stay in various European countries, they have the opportunity to learn both about the infrastructure of other countries and visit its attractive places, provided that they are not far from the established route.
Wishing you a successful and sunny May weekend, we invite you to take a look at the gallery of photos that are sent to us from the route LCL Spedition drivers and for which we are extremely grateful to them. May in each of their routes, they have the opportunity to observe such beautiful landscapes.
