[music]
Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. To end the show today on a lighter note, but ironically with a positive nod to France after the deserved criticism that it was taking in the last segment, we're going to invite your calls on this simple question. What would you do if you had the entire month of August off? 212-433-WNYC, here on this 1st of August. 212-433-9692. You've probably heard that in France, long summer vacations are something of a religion. "Vacation in France," says Jean Viard, a sociologist at Paris's Sciences Po University. It says, "Vacation in France has taken the place of the great religious rites." That's a quote from a story in the Wall Street Journal.
A long summer vacation is such a custom that August is colloquially known there as France's month off. In fact, Eleanor Beardsley, you know her, NPR's Paris correspondent, has written about what it's like to be working in Paris when everyone seems to be on holiday. "I knew the month was going to be awash after just two phone calls. It was early August and I had returned to Paris from my vacation in the US, energized and ready to start working on stories again but my first two calls for interviews were met with the same recording. We are away on vacation and the office is closed. We'll be back August 30th." August 30th. Paris in August.
Though some in France prefer to take their vacations in July. I've read the traditionalists still choose August, but in any case, we're talking about a month. The question is, it's a fantasy call-in, what would you do if you had the entire month of August off, or any month for that matter? 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. We can also take some calls on this from anyone who has lived in Paris or France or any country that does vacation differently. Tell us what you did do with your month-long vacation over there. 212-433-WNYC. 212-433-9692. For most of you, this is probably going to be a little August 1st fantasy call-in.
If you lived in France right now, and of course, somebody's got to serve all those vacations, right? There's what we call essential workers now who probably have to spend the month of August in the vacation-heavy areas working their tails off. For those who are on vacation, what did you do when you had a month off? Because that's how France or any other country you lived in structured the year. If you've never lived in a country like that, you can engage in a little fantasy fair here in the last 10 minutes of the program. If you lived in a country like that or if we had that system here, what would you do with the month of August off? 212-433-WNYC.
As we were talking about earlier in the show in our climate story of the week, summer camps because of global warming are having to move indoors for kids to some degree more than in the past. What month would you choose to take off? Would it be August, in the climate change era, or would it be something else? 212-433-WNYC. Tell us your stories if you're from France or any other country that has long vacations, or engage in a little fantasy. What month would you choose? What would you do with that month if you had it? 212-433-WNYC. We'll take your calls right after this.
[music]
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right, to your calls, and what you would do if you had the entire month of August off? I realized I left out one whole category of people in this country from whom this actually applies. Teachers. Liz in Saugerties is one of them, calling in. Liz, you're on WNYC. Hi there.
Liz: Hi again, Brian. I like to just hang out on the lawn. I grew sunflowers. I enjoy watching the birds. Working for a school, you get the summer off, and I'm fortunate enough to have that. My birthday and my husband's birthday is in August and we like to go out to Wareham, Massachusetts, and just hang out on the beach.
Brian Lehrer: All right. Liz, thank you very much. Jeremy in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jeremy.
Jeremy: Hey, Brian, how are you?
Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?
Jeremy: My wife's family is all in Nepal, so what I would do is I would take off October because that's when all of their awesome holidays are. To travel 20 hours away, it takes about like a week just to get used to the time difference. October is so busy for kids and everything. I would just love to just take the month off and just travel around Nepal with the family and experience all these awesome festivals that have been going on for thousands of years.
Brian Lehrer: There's a good fantasy. October in Nepal. Sally on the Upper West Side, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sally.
Sally: Hi. I would love to spend August in Scandinavia, especially Norway. I'd like to have as much sunlight as possible and possibly without the heat that we get here.
Brian Lehrer: Interesting. The sun never sets, I guess, right?
Sally: That's what I've heard.
Brian Lehrer: Some people would find that disruptive, like, "How do I sleep?" but there's a nice sunshine fantasy. Go to Scandinavia where the sun never sets. I was just watching that TV show about how Iceland is one of the happiest countries on earth and yet it came out that a lot of people there take antidepressants because, in the winter, the sun never rises so I guess it goes both ways. All right. How about Omotayo in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Omotayo.
Omotayo: Hi. First-time caller. I have been trying to call all this while. Anyway, first-time caller, I'm excited. For me, if [unintelligible 00:07:15] August, normally, because we have a three-year-old daughter, and we would like to take her back to Africa to integrated in the culture, which we did last year, August. My wife's family is also abroad, in the UK, and my mother comes from a very big family, Italy, Dublin, all over the whole place, so it's part of the things I would like to do on August. This year, we're not doing that. We're just going Upstate New York to explore most of the part of Upstate New York because we love it. That's what we're doing this August.
Brian Lehrer: Omotayo, thank you. I'm glad you finally got on, please call us again. Ed in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ed. What would you do if you had all of August off?
Ed: Hi. Thank you, Brian. I would go back touring along the East Coast, hitting up different coastal cities, checking in the different cultures and different swim outlets, and definitely partaking in the seafood.
Brian Lehrer: Nice. You have a particular city or two you would most want to hit or spot on the east coast?
Ed: I would probably do the northeast, maybe like Portland, they got a bunch of lighthouses along there. There's a lot of great eating, then make my way maybe south. Will start north and then make my way south until the month runs out and go back home by train.
Brian Lehrer: Totally cool. Ed, thank you. Arnold in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Arnold. What would you do if you had all of August off?
Arnold: Brian Lehrer, we love you and we love this question. Of course, what I would say I would do is clean my house and build my website and scan all those photographs and all those projects, but we all know that we just had two and a half years at home during a pandemic and none of those things happened. Really, I think what it's about is just appreciating the miracle of the life that I have and just being able to get up in the morning and listen to the Brian Lehrer Show and hear all the wonderful things you expand my mind into. I'm stirring some oatmeal that's sticking to the bottom of the pan and I feel like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life, kissing the [unintelligible 00:09:20] when he realizes the value of all he has and not that it's about, "Oh, I wish for something else." It's just beautiful to have the day.
Brian Lehrer: Arnold with the Zen attitude, bringing the Zen attitude. That's so beautiful, but I love the beginning of his call too. "What would I do? I would like to say I would clean my house and sort all my photos." Arnold, thank you very much. Bennett in Park Slope, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bennett. What would you do if you had all of August off?
Bennett: Hello. Pardon me, my voice has a problem. I would travel to that long, fabled, famous land of the United States of America, and enjoy seeing it and teach those silly overworked Americans how to relax.
Brian Lehrer: Teach those overworked Americans to take a full month off. Bennett, thank you. Mohsen, in New Brunswick, who I think lived in Europe and actually had this is going to get our last word. Mohsen, you're on WNYC. We have 30 seconds for you. Hello.
Mohsen: Hello. I did take a Ryanair flight down to Malta. It's $70 or less depending on when you get it. I would enjoy the Mediterranean and then take another flight over to Cyprus, which is another island again for a cheap flight with Ryanair of $50 maybe, and enjoy the Mediterranean Sea and all these sites and whatnot because in Germany they also get four weeks. It takes different times but they also have four or five weeks vacation.
Brian Lehrer: I guess if you were starting in Germany, you can fly to the Mediterranean for $50. With that piece of fantasy, we leave it. Thanks to you for all your calls on what you would do if you had the month of August off.
[music]
