Last weekend I went from The Commodores to U2! I was driving down to the local shop to pick up some bread and croissant for breakfast humming “Easy Like Sunday Morning,” and to my frustration arrived at a darkened out shop and a closed sign, and immediately felt like blasting out “Sunday, Bloody Sunday.”

Yes, the summer has gone and so has the Sunday shop openings.

“Oh, you guys made so much money through the tourist season you can afford to close all your shops on a Sunday, don’t you know you live from tourism,” commented an American tourist in front of a closed shopping centre in Župa.

I smiled, he was right.

I avoided explaining the politics of the decision to close shops on Sundays, for it is a political decision by a religious body. A body that wanted to show that it still has political strength over a ruling government, and clearly they do as the shops remain closed on the Sabbath.

Jesus wanted the disciples to feed a large crowd. They said it would be impossible. But, a boy with them had five small loaves of bread and two small fish. Jesus takes this gift, thanks God for it, and uses it to feed over 5,000 people with leftovers to spare! So we can determine from this story that either a) Jesus wasn’t feeding the hungry at the weekend, or b) Jesus had found an INA that was allowed to sell bread.

Yes, that makes sense.

Let’s allow a massive international conglomerate to make more cash on bread, rather than allow family-run bakeries to pay the bills.

However, I digress.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it is all about choice. Nobody should be forced to work on the seventh day. And those that do want to work should be handsomely rewarded for their work, meaning double hourly rate and a day off when they want.

Now you might argue that I am coming at this argument with a Protestant/capitalist mind-set. But don’t worry there is nonsense in all religions.

One particular story caught my eye this week. Now, all shops have the option to open on a Sunday in the UK and on the whole most are indeed open. One of the largest supermarkets opens all of its shops on the Sabbath, well all apart from one store.

“Unholy row over plan to open island supermarket on Sundays,” wrote the BBC about the one supermarket that is still closed.

So on one of the most northerly islands above Scotland, the Outer Hebrides, the locals are fighting to keep their supermarket closed on Sundays. They are making petitions and lobbying the government and local authorities. Many of the island's residents are members of various protestant denominations that believe Sunday should be a day of rest.

I respect that right.

And then I dug a little deeper into the story, and guess what the nonsense appeared.

As I said this island is “out of sight, out of mind,” and many of the practises they followed are a little bit of an eye-brow raiser.

“Observance of the Sabbath was once so strict that play park swings were chained up at dusk on Saturday, and hanging out washing on a Sunday was frowned upon,” wrote the BBC. Imagine that, children weren’t allowed to play in parks!

These rules have been relaxed these days, but just the thought of what they were doing is shocking.

Still today shops are closed and not just that but swimming pools, bowling alleys and indoor play areas for children, all of these are operated by the local council and they keep them all closed. This would seem totally against the argument of “Sunday should be a day when families come together.”

The supermarket has stated that nobody would be forced to work on Sunday and that they would respect the views and opinions of the local community before deciding to open the shop. The fight is ongoing and nothing has been decided yet.

It looks like a Sunday, Bloody Sunday on this island as well! And whilst these islands have a tourism industry they are also reliant on fishing and agriculture, and guess what the fishermen and farmers work on the Sabbath. On the other hand, we pretty much live from tourism, and yet we are only giving tourists the opportunity to spend money on six days of the week.

You could also argue that shops are open throughout the summer tourist season, which makes the whole concept even more confusing. It is like saying that we are atheists in the summer and sons of the Pope in the winter.

I’m confused.

Which is it?

“We aren’t open tomorrow, but the shop in Plat is open,” said the shop assistant. I am even more confused. Are we now breaking down religion by geographical region?

I have gone from “Easy Like Sunday Morning” to “Confused Like a Sunday Morning!” 

Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to. 

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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik