You don’t have to be religious to know that it’s a good idea to keep one day a week free from most distractions, and get some rest. Keep Sunday Special is a campaign that asks us to (when we can) not go shopping on Sundays. Not always possible, but if you’re organised enough, it helps to stop pressure being put on workers to give up their weekends.
Not many realise that you do have certain legal rights, if you don’t want wor work Sundays. Citizens Advice has good info. But if you refuse – they may find some other way to fire you?
Another reason to rest on Sundays is because small indie shops usually have Sundays off. So big shops that open on Sundays are taking custom away from them.
Stores over 280 square metres are now allowed to open for 6 continuous hours on Sundays, but not allowed to open on Easter Sunday or Christmas Day.
longest-living people don’t work Sundays
You may have heard of Dr Ellsworth Wareham, the vegan cardiologist who continued his practice well into his 90s (he said the only problem was when the patients saw how old he was, just before they went under the knife!) Although his diet and lifestyle played a key part, it’s interesting that he was from the Californian town of Loma Linda. This town is religious (Seventh Day Adventist). So apart from emergency services, everything shuts down on Sundays, and people do nothing. And the town has the highest longevity of any town in the USA.
Do not let Sunday be taken from you. If your soul has no Sunday, it becomes an orphan. Albert Schweitzer
The Igbo (who live mostly in Nigeria) have a four-day week (the second day Orie is a holy day of obligation when farmers rest). On Ghana’s coastline, no fishing is allowed on Tuesday, to give the sea time to replenish. Mohandas Gandhi took each Monday as a day of total silence. Try it. One day a week. It could be merely a question of doing nothing. Jonathan Schorsch
