Here’s to Christmas-new year holiday fortnight — and dancing taxi drivers

NEVER mind economic sovereignty. That’s so last year. How about Ireland getting calendar sovereignty?

Be honest, now, this year’s arrangement whereby Christmas Day landed on a Wednesday and New Year’s Day is fast coming up the day after tomorrow was the best arrangement ever. In effect, it gave us a holiday fortnight, because there wasn’t much point in turning up for work the Monday before Christmas Eve, since nobody else was going to be in their office on that day. Nor, given half a chance, was anybody going to rush back to slavery on Thursday or Friday. Nobody like us for spotting an opportunity to mitch with tacit permission.

Of course, if we were Americans, we’d all have been back at our desks on St Stephen’s Day and on New Year’s Day. The Americans are diligent, that way. Plus, they haven’t cottoned on to the Irish interpretation of public holidays. They take a Spanx approach: They squeeze whatever they have to into the official day off. That’s it and that’s all.