Sunday

I loved Sundays growing up.

I remember as a teenager I had a paper round. I would get up between 6 and 7 am, deliver my papers then crawl back into bed. I only had a few papers to deliver on a Sunday morning, less than 10, but the houses and flats were far apart.  One vivid memory I have is trying to deliver the Sunday Times, there were so many supplements and magazines that I had to take it apart and push each part through the letter box one at a time.  After finishing I would go back home and crawl back in bed, especially in the winter.

Mom always made a roast, and most weeks an apple pie, if she wasn't too tired she would bake a Victoria sponge as well.

Sunday afternoons were lazy times, we might have to do a couple of chores. As I got older one job I had was ironing, took hours!  Also, I would listen to the top 40 pop songs.  One Christmas I got a cassette tape recorder for Christmas, I think I copied the top 40 almost every week.

There was just something nice about Sunday.  Nowhere was open, nowhere to go.  It felt good to stay home!

When I came to Japan I was shocked that all shops open on a Sunday.  Spending a day at the shops or shopping malls was normal.  Libraries are open but closed on Monday.  The only places closed are banks, offices, doctors, and dentists.

I really try not to shop on Sunday.  Everywhere is busy.  I prefer to stay home or maybe visit someplace just to go sightseeing.  When the kids were young going to the library was fun.

Yesterday I had to go to the local supermarket to get a few things for lunch. I was going to ask David to stop by on the way home from his night shift but it was pouring down with rain.  David goes to work by bike and I knew he hadn't taken his raincoat.

The supermarket is where Christopher works, so we dropped him off and then waited for the store to open.  

There were people already lined up.  The store had a countdown to opening.  "5 minutes to opening", "3 minutes to opening" and then "The store is open".

When I got in I could see why it was so busy, big sales day.

Bananas were half price, 100 yen off a pack of ramen noodles, and rice was less than 2000 yen for 5 kilos.  There were other things on sale but those are the things that I noticed.  

waiting for the store to open

I'm glad I went as I could get some good bargains but I still prefer my lazy Sundays when I was young!