Taking Back Sunday

A strange realisation has come over me the last few days, well, since last Sunday if we're looking to be precise. However, it occurred to me on the said day exactly how much I miss not having Sunday to myself. Now, I never used to do anything of great consequence with them anyways. In fact, when I was back in glorious Devon, I was quite often working, but that was only for a few hours. Yet whilst at Uni, Sunday really came into its own. Sunday was always an excuse for an early start, a lot of reading, the possiblity of a football match in the afternoon, and then the Union pub quiz in the evening. In short, they were a day for relaxing and doing stuff you enjoyed. Jesus, you can tell how much of geek I am, I actually enjoyed studying at Uni. Then again, I always stand by the statement you should study what you enjoy rather than what you're good at.

Anyways, my point is this: Sunday's are for doing things, even if that involves doing very little! At least your doing something! If you're simply watching Dawson's Creek, you're still doing something as you're endulging in the act of viewing. Sunday is not a day for being sworn at by members of the public. Sunday is not the day for trying to decode what the hell people in Leeds are trying to say. Sunday is not the day to be working a ten hour shift. Now, I'm in no way suggesting some regression back to biblical times, when people had to attend some organization for fear of being burnt alive, or having one of their children sodomised by a local 'dignitory'. Surely we went through the Enlightenment for something, after all? No. I'm suggesting that for one day a week, contemporary culture just finds an 'off' switch. Surely we can go one day without words such as 'Customer Service', or 'Mobile Phone', or both, needing to be uttered? Surely we all deserve one day where everyone just goes "Sod it. I'm going to read a book" or something?

So this Sunday, when I'm indulging in the unsavoury occasions outlined above, I know a big part of me will be yearning for (less than comfortable) wooden bench, with good friends, a drink or two, dogs running in the park and a sudoku that I won't even look at for the simple reason that I always mess them up. I'll long for a crappy tabloid, where you can colour in the letters of headlines to make new ones that seem more interesting, whilst listening to acoustic-rock music and smiling nervously at waitresses who may or may not be looking in your direction.

Come on people, join me. Lets turn the world off for a day. It moves quick enough as it is! So before this idea itself becomes redundant, why not act? I'll see you in Terra Nova, where the toilets are badly labelled and the cocktails are embarassingly named. Make mine a peroni...