Photo by Arthur Chauvineau on Unsplash
The Victoria Day long weekend has come and gone.
Or perhaps you shorten it to “May long”. Or call it May 2-4, possibly because this is what some of us Canucks call 24 packs of beer—and many, many of these are dragged along for weekend festivities. CBC claims that sales of booze go up 15-20% before the Victoria Day weekend.
We likely all know the real reason for an extra sleep-in. Thank you, Queen Victoria, for your May 24 birthday.
Wait, you might be thinking. Wasn’t good ole Vic born wayyyy back in 1819? Yes. The answer is yes. So why do most parts of Canada still set off fireworks for a British ruler who’s been dead for 123 years?
Believe me, it made sense at one point. She was a big deal. Known as the “mother of confederation,” she “grew” the British Empire by 10 million square miles and 400 million people during her almost 64-year reign. She may never have set her satin boot-clad toes on Canadian soil, but she was pivotal in unifying our land.
Yes, we’ve been observing the holiday officially since 1845. Please don’t hate us, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and PEI but some of us get paid for this statutory holiday.
Yay, May 2-4.
I won’t judge whether or not it makes sense to toast someone who was buried with a cast of their husband’s hand. I’ll just appreciate her for a lunch bag-less day and raise a glass.
What did you do on the long weekend?
Photo by Scott Goodwill on Unsplash
Glampin’ Campin’
Maybe you’re one of the 6.3 million Canadian households who regularly stuff sleeping bags in a backpack, car, or trailer, and set up camp in spots where trees outnumber humans. If so, congrats for being the living proof that survival over black flies and mosquitoes bigger than your flashlight is indeed possible.
In Ontario, the Victoria Day weekend is often considered the start of three seasons: summer, construction, and camping.
As kids, our parents occasionally loaded a pumpkin-coloured canvas tent into our station wagon and drove us to a campground that wasn’t too far from our home. (That way Dad could drive back and forth to work.). The tent was heavy—and big enough that it could’ve taken over the backseat.
If you’re of my vintage you may recall melamine plates and bowls and two-inch thick foam sleeping pads (if you were lucky and there was room) that took about six people jumping on them like a trampoline to roll the suckers up tightly enough to fit in a vehicle. Our fireside stools were milk crates—which held our clothing. The rule: whatever fit into that 12”-by-12” bucket was what we were allowed to bring.
Mom jammed the cooler with homemade macaroni salad and more hot dogs than we were normally allowed in a year.
Oh, and ignore this next part, environmental warriors, or Greta Thunberg may send us straight to the gulag without collecting $200: to create teal-shaded flames in our nightly campfires, Dad brought along a few old chunks of copper pipes.
Photo by Holly Landkammer on Unsplash
Gardenin’ Guru
Did you notice a lot of bums bent over pepper plants this past weekend? There’s a reason for the buzz of excitement amongst gardeners at this time of year.
In certain parts of Canada, the 24th of May is considered ideal for transplanting annuals, perennials, and other flowerbed goodies. (We’ll jealousy pretend that Vancouver’s much earlier planting season doesn’t exist.)
Why is the end of May so dandy, you ask? The chance of frost is minimized—although don’t mention that to my coworker or my father who madly spread bed sheets and towels over everything this past weekend. By May 2-4 the ground here has finally warmed up enough to welcome new life. Moisture levels and longer days with more sunlight play a positive role as well.
Were you one of the lucky ones to have been, as Mark Cullen explains, “’accosted by all of that eye-candy at the nursery’” over the holiday? You’re not alone. According to StatsCan, Canadians spend $1.8 billion a year on greenhouse plants and flowers. That’s about $166 a household.
Photo by Pam Menegakis on Unsplash
Smokin’ Piggies Over an Open Flame
Almost ¾ of the Canadian population owns a BBQ and CanadianGrocer.com claims that 42% of Canadians polled fire them up multiple times a week. Are you one of them?
Along with the sound of wallets emptying at nurseries and the sight of families arguing over tent set-up instructions, the smell of treats being BBQed is another sure sign that a long weekend has arrived. With the onset of warmer, snow-free days, you no longer need to don a skidoo suit and triple-lined tuque to fry up your burgers.
Sometimes your Victoria Day travel plans involve a simple trip between your fridge and your grill. And isn’t that okay? After all, Anthony Bourdain asserts that
“Barbecue may not be the road to world peace, but it’s a start.”
You Got Up to WHAT?
Did you light up the barbecue or back your RV into the perfect lakeside spot or stick your fingers in some hungry soil over the long weekend? Or all three?
Maybe your time off morphed into a chorefest. Perhaps you weren’t one of the chosen ones who managed a whole three days without professional obligations.
Or possibly like me, you knocked over a row of cedar fence posts (intentionally ha ha) in the pouring rain, ogled trilliums, and grimaced as the blue-and-white boys managed to mishandle their hockey sticks a few too many times in the do-or-die final.
Thanks, Victoria, for a good ole 72-hour weekend.
