In a mass-connected society it seems holding on to physical traditions is nearly impossible. Perhaps the 'day of rest' tradition has actually been fueled by the merit of sharing rhythms. A shared pulse allows for self-organizing behavior, and benefits strategies for decentralized markov-decision processes.

Interest in these kind of decentralized behavioral patterns is rising, which could revolutionize our views on the utility of traditions such as the 'day of rest'.

I remember the early 1980's UK Sunday shopping experience too. We had one convenience store that probably flouted laws and paid fines. To get there from our village involved getting to town and then another two miles the other side of town, opposite a garage, was the place where you could buy a pint of milk and some other items at a premium price.

The UK retail landscape has changed dramatically since then and in unanticipated ways. Newsagents ceased to be the cornerstone of community that they once were, nowadays we have convenience stores where most people don't walk out with a newspaper under their arm.

Maggie Thatcher was the one that pushed for the Sunday trading laws to be changed, thereafter we became a nation of shoppers (rather than shopkeepers, which was how we described Britain before then). I did not shop on Sunday for many years after that as I did not see the point of having sales spread out over 7 days. Also remember that we also had half day trading on Wednesdays (or another mid-week day) in most towns. So this was a big change.

I think that we would do well to re-visit Sunday trading with more 'Bank Holidays' on Sundays. The weekend after pay day might be good for Sunday trading with the rest of the Sundays being retail free days. We could also do with a few 'car free' Sundays combined with wither no retail or lots of retail more of the 'street festival' flavour.

In the days when the shops were closed on Sundays nobody starved.

Then take a day of rest. Not everyone is going to share the same "rhythm" no matter what. Fit example other stores are still open, like that Starbucks. And some people enjoy shopping, some find it restful. Who should argue what is recreational?

My head agrees with you. My heart, though, clings a little to the beauty of shared cultural behaviour. Long term, everyone's behaviour will be so independent that each day will look the same but for now, Sunday feels different to any other day in most of England. (This is not much the case in central London, however, as it essentially has no majority culture being a world city.)

My feelings about Sunday are like those of many Americans over Christmas or Thanksgiving. You don't interrupt people and you can't judge people for being unavailable. Most Americans have a cultural appreciation of how those days affect life even if they don't personally celebrate.

I should note I'm not really disagreeing with you - I think people should be able to do what they want - but I wanted to reflect on the idea there are cultural pros and cons in all directions and that restrictions can have a point (and beneficial side effects) even if that point must expire someday.

I've just spent the past month and a bit living in England with family, and as with all the other times I've done so, I noted that nobody actually uses Sunday as a day of rest. It mostly serves to irritate people.

The only argument I can see for it is that it allows retail workers a day off when they would otherwise not have the power to demand one.

That was one of the rationales for keeping it so long. Maggie Thatcher was not a fan of such reasoning, hence the change ;-)

But, well, locations and families vary. I've lived here over 30 years and Sunday has a distinctly restful vibe for most groups of people I know. I imagine people down in the Home Counties are more rush-rush-busy-busy nowadays than we country folk.