The Buckets by Greg Cravens for May 11, 2023

I remember in the 60’s Kmart was open on Sunday but there were many things you weren’t allowed to buy for some reason so they were either roped off or covered with sheets!

I remember when all stores closed at 6pm (5pm on Saturday), even the supermarkets. And they were closed on major holidays as well. Also never open on Sundays. And it seems it has been only since 1996 that shops are allowed to stay open untill 22.00 o’clock, although there has been a period around the 1930s that they could open on weekdays till 8pm and Saturdays till 10pm. And once a month allowed to be open on Sunday. Most regular shops ( clothes, shoes etc.) still close at 6pm weekdays and 5pm Saturday. Supermarkets will be open untill 9pm or 10pm.

Sunday Blue Laws were just one example of politically influential hyper-religious bluenoses imposing their views on everyone else. The overturning of Roe v. Wade shows they never really went away. What’s next on their agenda, outlawing birth control again?

Yep. I remember those days. We got up, went to church and mom prepared a big meal for lunch. In the afternoon, my cousins would come over to play or we’d go there. Good memories.

I definitely remember those days. We also only had 2 TV channels and could buy 1p sweets.We also used to live in a cardboard box in the middle of the swamp, but you tell kids that these days and they don’t believe you (Monty Python sketch but the first 2 sentences were real)

and nobody locked their front door

And your house didn’t have A/C for Illinois summers, and the TVs were Black and White, if you had one there were only three channels and cars fell apart after 50,000 miles and fridges were manual defrost and …

And.. half days on Wednesday.

I am an Army brat. Growing up the commissary was closed on Sundays. Then in my teens it opened for a few hours. The PXs were mostly the same. As an adult that was the case until we got stationed here at Ft. Bragg in 1994. The main commissary was closed on Sunday, but a mini-one was open. Meanwhile the PX was 24 hours!! I couldn’t believe it. That lasted for a few years until they opened a second PX so both went to the normal hours I was used to.

There was a reason they were called blue laws.

Not even this century.

We still do that in many places. You get used to the slower pace.

The country I was born in was totally different from the one I have to live in today except the location. I guess that is the same in most countries. But I have to admit: the USA changed more than most (well…: Russia? Maybe China) in the time I visited them last, which was 1996.

But people of Eddies and Tobys age will have to live in a different world. That’ll be a challenge.