Some abroad call them "vacations," but in France, we talk about "long bridges," or grands ponts. "I'm doing a long bridge" is a common excuse at this time of the year, when most French people experience a succession of public holidays, this year falling between April 26 and May 13. A grand pont is a bit like a solar eclipse or the passage of Halley's comet. It requires the simultaneous fulfillment of several conditions for it to take place: a service economy, a month of May during which public holidays don't fall on weekends and a social acceptance of remote working.

How to recognize the ponts

Fans of the grands ponts will have gotten a head start on their strategy in January and booked their tickets in February. Since mid-April, if asked about any new plans, they'll reply, "We'll deal with that in September." They get their children to skip school by saying, "I didn't realize they had classes on Tuesday."

They've convinced themselves that they had no choice, that everyone would be away anyway, and that they were just adapting. They've canceled everything they didn't like in their diaries for the next two months, saying: "With the ponts, it's not going to be practical." They complain about having "three things a night at the moment," because of everything that can't take place during ponts and vacations. They're as attached to Pentecost and Ascension Day as they are to secularism.

When they say, "I'll be remote-working but I won't be reachable," it means they'll be on a TGV fast train. They've become so convinced that the whole world is coming to a standstill that they sincerely wonder whether the supermarkets will be open, and are surprised every year that they are. They feel like they're just helping out their company's HR department ("Between RTT [regulated time off for those working 35+ hours per week] and leave days to be settled, I didn't have much choice."). In the out-of-office message on their company e-mail account, they say they'll be "back" on such-and-such a day, but don't specify when they were away. Even if they're absent for 10 days, they'd rather say grand pont than "vacation."

How they talk

"May is the new July." "Paris is going to be a desert. There's no point in being here!" "Actually, putting the days end to end, I'll be working two weeks between now and the summer vacation." "See you on May 21?" "May is all about strategy, and you've got to shoot first." "There's Wi-Fi there, so I'll be able to work." "But don't worry, there won't be anyone at school." "Impossible, I've already booked the tickets." "If we add a bit of remote working, it's perfect." "I wasn't expecting to have any appointments on May 10 either." "I was reluctant to take days off, but I'm going to work remotely." "Is it me who's in early retirement without realizing it, or doesn't anyone want to work anymore?" "It's training for the total shutdown that's going to happen with the Olympics." "I'm going to take a week off at Christmas."

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