It is Sunday today. It is pouring with rain outside, but I am warm and snug inside, looking out over the lake. The other side is just about visible now, through the gloom.
“Six days shall you work and on the seventh shall you look out over the lake”. This is the fourth of the Ten Commandments (in Exodus 20, if you are interested). Well not exactly. “The seventh day is holy to the Lord. You shall do no work”. It is actually much longer than that, but that is the gist of it. Fourth in the list of ten, as well. Fairly high up. (Not killing, not stealing and not coveting your neighbour’s Audi all come after this.)
But as it is said in England, “Six days shall you work and on the seventh shall you shop”.
Going to church used to be the traditional way of observing this, combined in the afternoon, with visiting relatives or just having a snooze in front of the Television, before cooking the Sunday Roast and then falling asleep again. In Switzerland, (after going to church, if you go), it is traditional to climb a mountain, complete a 20 km hike or cycle 150 km. Those are summer observed activities, of course. In the winter, it is skiing or falling over on the pavement and breaking an arm.
There is a discussion currently underway in Switzerland about Sunday shopping. It was a great shock to us, when we first arrived to find that the supermarkets closed at 4.00 pm on Saturday. After the experience of having no Sunday Roast, we just got ourselves organised to do the shopping on Saturday. Not so hard, once you get used to it.
We try to explain to our Swiss friends and colleagues, that they really do not want Sunday shopping. Just as ex-smokers are the most evangelical campaigners of the merits of not smoking, we are devoted “No Sunday Shopping, but Sunday hiking” campaigning.
Do you know what the first three commandments are?
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