To wonder if Sundays in the 80s were restful or boring

[IlovedLadybirdbooks]

Large stores were closed on Sundays. Eating out was a rare treat. No Deliveroo. 3 TV channels to choose from. People got their exercise from a walk or cycling rather than the gym. Children played out rather than being taken to organised activities.

Just pondering ... were Sundays more relaxing or a bit of a drag?

I think that resonated with me at the time as a teen.

We did DGP visits which were okay if hadn't Saturday - though by late primary involved being still and listening to adults talk. I remember baths and homework mainly and sinking feeling as a teen that had new school week to get through.

Sunday lunch one time of week we sat together to eat - could by lunch or tea- then slipped into food coma watching decade old TV on channel 4.

By early evening that feeling started up.

Thing is though DMum started working Sundays morning at supermarket before it was actually legal so got double time - but that didn't seem to make much difference though we perhaps did less as she was tired.

That was 60s/70s rather than 80s though.

Sundays in the 80s I generally had a hangover and a lot of homework to do.

I lived in London and cafes were open and pubs opened Sundays lunch time and after 5. There was always Up All Night on King’s Road which was open 24/7.

Very boring. My dad worked away so we didnt spend "family" days doing things, my mum did her own thing, nothing new there. I used to play out with my friends but on rainy cold days you had to stay in and it was so boring.

I was in primary school in the 80s and I remember Sundays as being a nice day. We did pretty much the same every week.
In the morning we went to church, then we went to visit two "old" ladies (I thought they were old at the time but they'd have been in their late 40s then!). They were our neighbours before we moved away when I was 3.
Then it was straight to Grandad's for a roast dinner. After dinner I did the washing up and then played in the garden.
I can't really remember what I did in the afternoon but it was only a couple of hours before we went back to Grandad's for afternoon tea.
Back home and then all watched Songs of Praise and that was the bit I remember as dragging and being really boring. It seemed to go on forever but it was only half an hour!
When I was a bit older I was allowed to watch Last of the Summer Wine before bed.

From the late 80s we had a new family move in next door. I was about 10 at the time. The couple used to go out to the pub or working man's club or whatever it was down the road and come back absolutely steaming drunk. I spent many a Sunday afternoon with a glass against the wall listening to them shouting and swearing at each other.

They were boring compared to other the days though. I wasn’t wishing for an iPad but I was wishing for Saturdays when I could get the bus into town with my mates or we’d go out as a family somewhere that wasn’t the same old woods. Even school was better than a Sunday.

Toast and dripping for tea, clogged arteries all round!

I spent a lot of my childhood trying to work out what the atmosphere in the house was like:

• had my parents argued?
• was DM in the kitchen upset while DF sat in the sitting room completely unbothered?
• was DB going to get into a towering rage about nothing?
• could I stop other DB from setting DF/DM/DB off?
• how could I keep the peace?

I was constantly wary as a child.

DM & DF should never have married but DM was pregnant with DB (of the rages) so they had to marry (early 60s). Other DB and I came along so that was that.

Sundays were the worst because there was nowhere to go. By my teens in the early 80s I had perfected the art of being somewhere else.

I did organised sport on a Sunday and so did most people I knew so not sure about this lack of activities thing you mention.

I wonder if posters were actually bored or think they were in comparison with how busy Sundays can be now.

I remember being bored - as does DH.

Sort of done everything had bath already - and nothing to do but time. There wasn't any playing out on Sundays in our rural village - no idea why.

Don't think our kids have ever felt that - even DGP visits have been more exciting than ours were - less expecatation they sit still and listen to adults talk more doing things together.

There also more access to more entertainment in house as well as things outside the house.

There was a shift in the 90s my teen years in wider culture but also a lingering effect - we often did same as previous years in our house - with few periods when parents deciced we'd go swimming or something then quickly revert to previous patterns.

Exactly! and my Sundays certainly arent rushed or crazily busy now, but they are interesting, relaxing, enjoyable and fun.

Not remotely like the crushingly dull boredom of an 80s Sunday.

I used to dread Antiques Roadshow and Songs of Praise coming on because it meant it was almost Monday again.
Not going to lie though, I quite like the idea of watching them now

Loved The Waltons!

It was the early nineties, not the 80s, to be fair but School Around the Corner was the same for me. Plus the Lyrics Board hosted by Linda Martin.

Sunday was church, family visiting and quiet activities. No unseemly running around, climbing etc! I didn't know anything else so I wasn't bored. I really liked drawing, colouring and writing stories though so had something on the go most of the time.

Much the same for us as for my DC now. Church, roast lunch (autumn, winter), bike ride or walk, homework then tea (DF would always do crumpets, cakes, sandwiches etc) followed by a board game or card game if time allows. Bath then bed for DC and TV or film for me and DH. Maybe had family over for lunch or tea.

I worked 6 days a week in retail so it was when I did my housework and recovered from my hangover !

Soooo boring for the early 80s - I was 10 in 1980 so most of my teens were confined to my bedroom listening to records, reading Smash Hits and taping the Top 40. Hard to keep in touch with friends - we had a house phone but Dad would kick off if we hogged it. I passed my driving test in ‘88 and had a boyfriend by then so things picked up and I was allowed out clubbing with friends. No shops open though, it was such a drag.

I'd sometimes go to Sunday school, which I think my parents insisted on, so they could have sex.
Then me and my best friend would search the field attached to the local Labour club, for dropped money. It was the days of all arguments being settled by having a straightener on that field. We'd always find enough for sweets. Sometimes our Mums would be in work and it would be a day of playing or swimming. Or I would visit relatives and my friend would come with. My Dad would drive us to a ice cream parlour, after tea and treat us. I had relatives all over the country, so my childhood was never boring, but I appreciate for a working class kid, my upbringing was unusual. We were fortunate to have parks, swimming baths, country houses, woods etc within easy distance. Then I remember the factories closing, early to mid 80s Merseyside and poverty hitting. But then I remember the Nans that used to stand in their paths, for a passing chat, offering jam sandwiches or toast, worrying about the children being fed. DV went up, as did alcoholism and things were less care free. Luckily my parents wasnt affected by unemployment.

I thought Sundays were lovely. A day to do whatever you wanted so long as it wasn't something consumerist and money eating as those places were mainly closed.

Oh yes, the Top 40. And Annie Nightingale, quite fond memories of listening to her show while washing piles of dishes in an empty house when my parents went to church on Sunday evenings. I also remember the vile Savile being on Sunday radio in the afternoons.

There was also a programme on Radio 4 on Sundays called 'Sing something Simple' which filled me with bone-crushing despair.

I mean that’s what the kids who play out in our village appear to do (the school have sent emails about it!) they just cycle around annoying people by the looks of it.

I played out but can’t see it really benefitted me or otherwise. I used to write down the car number plate of every car that passed- I could do that for hours. Dull as hell 😭

Boring , unless it was good weather and we could spend all day outside

I don't remember ever being bored. There was always something I wanted or needed to do, whether playing in the park or with my toys when I was young, or homework when I was older.

At uni I became an active Christian so went to church and intentionally did no studying or shopping. It was really nice to have that downtime as every other day was very intense.

Boring when I was a kid but then I was brought up in a house where we had to keep the sabbath day holy, and my mum was very strict. We were not allowed to watch tv at all on a Sunday, or allowed out to play. So we had to read a book. We looked forward to a Sunday that we visited our Gran after church so we could watch tv. I am still bitter that I didn't get to watch the Gummy Bears because of my mum haha.