Thursday a consequence, some call Thursday "thirstday" or "thirsty Thursday". In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law — which merely states that an election may be held on any day ""except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning."" Additionally, local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May. The Electoral Administration Act 2006 removed Maundy Thursday as an excluded
Royal Maundy Allison and Sarah Riddell in their "Royal Encyclopedia", the service "has become the occasion of a royal pilgrimage to different parts of the country". The Queen has directed that the service not be held in London more often than once in ten years. Westminster Abbey was the site of the 2001 Royal Maundy, and again in 2011, the first ever televised. On 20 March 2008, at the Church of Ireland St Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh, the Queen attended the first Maundy service held outside England and Wales. Today the recipients are pensioners, chosen on an interdenominational basis from various Christian churches