I am afraid I am having one of my "can you believe it?" moments. A year ago the government passed a law decreeing that one of France's 11 annual bank holidays is to be scrapped. It was a way of raising extra money for the elderly, who suffered terribly in the 2003 heatwave, and at the time it all seemed a pretty fine idea. It is not as if there is any shortage of holidays in May. If they all (four of them) fall on Tuesdays or Thursday and thereby make the "pont" with the weekend, it can mean the country grinds to a complete halt for half the month. Whit Monday (or Pentecost Monday) was chosen as the holiday for the chop, and we all prepared to do our bit. But somehow as the day approached the warm glow of "solidarity" has chilled into mean-minded Gallic truculence. Strikes have been called by all the unions, one of which has gone so far as to describe the abolition of the holiday as "forced labour." More than half the population say they plan to take the day off regardless. Newspapers like le Monde blame the government -- of course -- for "failing to communicate," but I am left wondering what any government can do with a public like this. Solidarity, my ....