It´ll  be holiday time very shortly.

       And what holiday will it be this time?

       Christmas Mr Midnight.  Christmas is the time when Christian humans celebrate the birth of Jesus.

       You humans love taking time off don´t you.  It sounds like any old excuse to have a pawty – but I´m game for that. This Jesus guy is quite an important figure isn´t he.

       You all seem to like celebrating which if kept in healthy balance, is good for the soul.  By the way daddy, don´t get irritated by Mr Midnights sly remarks about you having another holiday.

He should talk – we cats are always on holiday!

       That´s true Sir Winston,  but I thought that  humans had made so many rules and that  one of them stipulated that humans HAVE to go to work.  It seems that the humans in our neck of the woods are also,  always on holiday.  Don´t they like abiding by their rules?

       Sadly, many humans do not enjoy going to work. Work can be quite pleasurable but many (European) humans don´t seem to like working. I suppose they feel over-worked, underpaid and deprived of time-off.

       That´s rather sad daddy.  I believe that humans have to go to work for approximately 40 or so years before they are allowed to stop working.  That´s a very long time – especially if you don´t like working.

       Which is where all the dissatisfaction comes in. Many modern European individuals still want to ignore the fact that the majority of us will thankfully,  live much  longer than in times past and that the present retiring age MUST BE extended if we all wish  to continue enjoying our comfortable social systems.

Obviously, most modern individuals will disagree with my above statement and will want to blindly,  carry on as though everything is still all hunky-dory.

       ………a chunky what?

       He didn´t say anything about “chunky” things Mr Midnight. You´re always thinking about food.

       I´ll go and see if I can find some food for you in a minute Mr Midnight.  Please hold your horses.

       I´ll do my best, although I only have four spindly legs.  🙂

       The 2013 Vacation Deprivation Study from Expedia and Harris Interactive paints quite an ugly picture  as regards what European individuals  feel about their vacation time and reality.  By the way, here is a link to the survey.

(http://viewfinder.expedia.com/features/2013-vacation-deprivation-study)

For example, most Europeans, especially from countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Spain, feel that they are the most vacation-deprived than anybody else. However, when reading the survey one will find that in actual fact, European countries have more vacation time than any other country in the world.

France has a whopping 30 days a year vacation with 90% of the French believing that they do not have enough holiday.

The US worker receives 14 days a year (and will take 10) and a South Korean receives 10 days a year (and will take 7)

       But you all need to take time off work otherwise you´ll get poorly.

       Absolutely true Sir Winston and indeed, there is nothing wrong with taking a lot of holiday. The problem seems to be that the majority of Europeans believe that they are “deprived” when in actual fact, and compared to the rest of the world, we Europeans are very well off.

I just get tired of hearing everyone  (Europeans) moaning and complaining about how bad they feel they are  treated in the workplace.  Obviously, the workplace cannot always be perfect and unfortunately, there are those who suffer,  but we Europeans are still quite priviliged to be able to have so much holiday,  get paid when we are sick and have a generous sprinkling of Bank holidays into the bargain.  The continual stance of  always wanting to get  paid as much as possible will also bring about negative tendencies of possibly. having to work more for ones extra salary.

       But at least there is one similarity between you European humans and us cats.   We are both, very spoiled.

       At least you acknowledge the fact Mr Midnight.  Modern humans seem to always take things for granted and are quite ignorant of their surroundings.

       Are you not thankful for what you have?

       Some of us seem to be but when things get too comfortable in life (one doesn´t necessarily have to conciously be aware of the fact), modern humans tend to become disatisfied and then want even more.

Modern individuals love playing the role of “victim of society”.

       Puurrhaps you European people should take a bit of time to read the study daddy informed you about and then you´ll realise how lucky you all really are.

       According to the study, you´ve all got a lot of time coming up. When you´ve finished celebrating this Jesus guys birthday, perhaps you could find  time to read the survey and then be thankful for what you already have.

       Happy reading. I´m off to get a food-stick.

       And I think i´ll join you Mr Midnight. We´re both thankful for the time we´ve been given  on this planet.

Enjoy,  and please European humans – relax a little !    🙂