musings of an old coot

I am not a shopping on Black Friday fella. I will admit I enjoy shopping for gifts, exploring what is in the little out of the way stores. Shopping like I live my life wandering here and there.

Lining up in front of Kohls at 3 am? No Thank you- Waking up at 3 am to make a stuffing sandwhich? More in the realm of possibility.

There was some general consternation this year as more and more stores decide to open on Thanksgiving Day. Usaully for an abbreviated day, but still" Open on Thanksgiving."

Nobody asked me ,but I don't like it. Take a day. Sit. Relax. or don't Sit and relax , just don't shop.Go tomorrow.

Growing up , stores were closed on Sunday. Everybody was closed- okay, the stationary store and the bakery were open in the morning, but after that -closed. All Day. Every Sunday.

I have a very vivid memory of my friend Ed and I going to the Smithhaven Mall to see the movie "Sleeper". All the stores were closed, only the theater was open. Walking through the empty mall to go to the theater was for lack of a better word....neat.

Sunday was the day you went to visit. We would all pile in the car and head to the Schmidts or the Donnelys or Big Nannys in Woodside. When we weren't going there ,someone was coming to our house. Now if I see these people at all it's at a wedding or these days more often than not at a funeral. Hell, the Donnely family? I don't know if they are dead or alive.

If not visiting family we would go somewhere, the beach or the arboretum, I remember one sunday we got in the car and ended up in the Catskills.

Was it better than? hmmmm.It was different anyway. I cannot even begin to imagine everything closed one day a week now. It certainly let you know one week was finished and another was about to begin. A bit of punctuation.

The A&P next to the church was he first local store to experiment with staying open on Sunday. Of course at mass the priest would condemn this horrible practice, a slippery slope to damnation, but more and more parishoners would stroll over after mass to pick up a few items and less than a year later Sunday became grocery day-

This week there is a big brouhaha going on regarding a talk , more accurately a conversation , Steve Martin gave at the 92nd st Y in the city. In a nutshell , some of the audience were bored by the conversation and let management know, who then walked on stage and handed a note to the moderator saying to change the subject, the audience is bored.

amazing. If you get a chance follow Steve Martin on twitter for his comic take on the whole situation. brilliant! Also in the NY Times today he addresses the matter in a more sober way. also brilliant.

Even if it was boring, so what? Be bored for a while, things will pick up. Alot of those sunday trips were boring , but a whole lot of them were wildly entertaining.


Oh and way back when 7-11 was open from 7 am until 11 pm. I just blew your mind didn't I?