To HATE Easter Sunday!

[ElseaStars]

Sorry I know I'm probably being unreasonable but why is EVERYWHERE closed?! I really hate Easter. (To me it's a a day for kids and religious people)

So, you're ok for shopping on Easter Sunday if you want to buy a picnic rug, a metal garden ornament in the shape of a duck, some lavender hand cream, wild-flower honey or a book about gardening!

80smum, what else could anyone possibly want to buy on a Sunday!

On a more positive note, it's made my mum and dad very happy that for the first time in months their bit of Scotland is having far better weather than London. So that's nice.

What about the people who work for these shops etc you wish to frequent, who feel the have to work on days which are as important to them as Christmas? All because someone feels the need to spend more money and can't wait to do so. I like the forced downtime of Christmas and Easter, and if I lived in a non-Christian country, would respect their religious holidays too. It saddens me that people think otherwise.

Juggling I appreciate it's a difficult day for some, myself included (have suffered huge family losses over the last few years). Not sure how the shops being open today would help though I'm a nurse and have always had to work my share of Easter, Christmas, bank holidays etc. I've had today off and it's been bloody lovely.

We haven't always been a Christian country and I'm sure we won't be in the future.
Not everyone hates working easter or xmas.
The UK used to be Pagan at one point - do we still celebrate the vernal equinox or the winter solstice? NO. How about we just become totally secular?

Trillions, at the risk of sounding patronising it is sad that you haven't had anyone around today and are feeling lonely. It sounds really miserable, not just today, but in general.

Yawn.... Okay OP.

Nowhere closed where I live - everywhere open. Scotland obviously has different laws.

We haven't always been a Christian country and I'm sure we won't be in the future

Quite, it wouldn't be called EASTER if we'd always been Christian, and we wouldn't have eggs and easter bunnies!

'do we still celebrate the vernal equinox or the winter solstice?'
that's actually how quite a lot of non-religious people think of Christmas and easter - one to brighten mid-winter, the other to welcome spring. . (I'm an atheist and a secularist).

Nowhere closed where I live - everywhere open. Scotland obviously has different laws

It does - which is somewhat surprising given that some Scots are deeply sabbatarian - but the difference is, Scotland does not have an Established church - they don't have bishops able to interfere in legislation.

Well I'm glad I don't work today. Normally I'd have been up at 5 to do an 8 hour supermarket shift.

Instead, I got to sleep in until 8, laze around online and then DP cooked a roast, and now we're finishing our Harry Potter marathon.

Perfect. So, YABU. The shops don't need to be open for you to have a good day, surely?!

Chandler is this the only day you get to have a holiday? Honestly?

Am sorry for your loss Punkrocker, and others on the thread.
A difficult day for our family due to recent family bereavement too

Personally I'm not that bothered whether the shops are open or not, I think it's more the feeling that everyone else is playing happy families that can make the big festival days so difficult for many.

That and the rain!

It's one of the only Sundays I get off each year, yes.

I am contracted to work Sundays. Apart from this one, I have another three guaranteed off until April 2015. Otherwise, I have to work them.

Where I work, you HAVE to work a weekend day. So either way, you never get a full weekend at home unless you book it as holiday, which is limited. I get 115 hours a year holiday. I had to use 8 of them today otherwise I wouldn't have been paid.

Thank you Juggling I do appreciate what you're saying and very sorry for you're recent bereavement.

Trillions I am not a smug bastard or another patronising arsehole thanks!

I may now this year be in a position to have my family around me but belive me when I say I have been totally alone at Easter, Xmas New Year (in Scotland that time - longer holiday 2 days). Literally just moved somewhere. No husband. No kids. No friends. Not knowing the local area. Over 400 miles from anything I know and initially not even having my moving boxes to unpack - literally sat in a house with no real idea where I was. Alone.

I still managed one day without shops.

I get you may be pissed off because you cannot do your first choice thing today but REALLY?? ONE DAY???

There are plenty of other things you can do to get out and about lunch out (plenty of pubs and restaurants open),cinemas are open, get our for a walk etc. I doubt you walk around Asda striking up covos with anymore strangers than you would in any of the places mentioned above.

If it is a long term lonliness thing you are struggling to deal with then perhaps look at getting involved in something new like a hobby or club, where you may meet other people.

If its the need to shop then the internet is open for business.

As much as you think I am an arrogant arsehole I think you are rather lame at not being able to cope with the one of the few days a year shops are not open and be thankful you are not living in pre 1994 because every Sunday was like this then!

Oh god who cares it's two days out of 365

>Nowhere closed where I live - everywhere open. Scotland obviously has different laws

It does - which is somewhat surprising given that some Scots are deeply sabbatarian - but the difference is, Scotland does not have an Established church - they don't have bishops able to interfere in legislation.

Errol, Scotland does have an Established church - it's the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, usually just known as the Church of Scotland (or the Kirk). However, this church has no bishops (that is why it is separate from the Episcopalian Church of Scotland, which is Anglican) and therefore no input into UK legislation in the House of Lords. I don't know how the Scottish parliament liaises with the church, if at all.

Oh thanks Doris for calling a lonely person lame. That helps . I am coping" fine thanks, I would just prefer to be able to go for a wander around a nice shopping mall on a dull and solitary day.

Your post that "its really sad that on one day people cannot think of how to spend it other than spending money" is smug, passive aggressive and patronising. Loneliness is sad, bereavement is sad, cruelty to animals is sad. Someone having different preferences to you for how they fill their spare time is not sad. I think you do actually know this.

I only get like this on bank holidays and have already done my main "hobby" once today. It's not about the sodding shops. Given that I and others have explained above how we feel I won't waste my time repeating why the shops being shut bothers me. As for your other suggestions, I don't actually want to go to a pub or restaurant or cinema alone, and it's pouring with rain where I am.

Whether I choose to spend time with my family or not is my own business.

I strongly object to the State legislating in an attempt to force encourage me to behave in a fashion that it thinks I should.

It really smacks of Big Brother, and it is this I have an issue with.

We're just not used to this anymore. Today has reminded me of the rainy, boring Sundays of my youth. Remember the Morrissey song Every Day is like Sunday.......

Trillions - if you dish it out whether you are lonely or not dont be surprised if you get the same tone back.

I am sorry you feel so shit today but I dont think Asda is really likely to be the answer to your problems.

Oh yes, I loved that Morrisey song, it was pre-Sunday trading Act.

Go and enjoy your family time then Doris... actually shouldn't you be playing old-fashioned games with them right now rather than MN-ing?