The synopsis of the film refers to a 'perpetual fear of Sundays' stemming from the protagonist's childhood experiences. So, I began to wonder, what memories of Sunday could I dredge up from the past? Were they positive?
My first thoughts turn to the Velvet Underground song, Sunday Morning; a little sad, regretful for past mistakes, but 'praise the dawning' - there's the note of optimism - so Sundays can't have been all bad for Lou Reed.
I recall Sunday mornings being busy, but without recourse to worship. We weren't a church-going family, and an obligatory half hour of Songs of Praise in the evenings was the only concession to the sabbath.
In my early years, obsessed with a certain afternoon drama serial, Sunday was just a bundle of hours to be endured until I could indulge in witnessing my dearest fantasy become reality: animals ruling the planet over humans. The day after Saturday was, to me, simply 'Planet of the Apes' day.
Indeed, preparations for the compulsory roast dinner and visiting Granddad were the chief preoccupations. So having been fortified by weak Robinson's squash and stale broken biscuits at my granddad's home, having admired his marigolds, koi carp and immaculate housekeeping it was time to head back to consume the roast dinner. My tasks were simply to make the mint sauce (if it was lamb) and set the table in the front room with two tablecloths and the kept-for-best faux-bone handled flatware.
But, the overwhelming memory of Sundays for me is of the post-prandial naps my parents took in their armchairs. Their faces completely obscured by the tented pages of the Sunday papers, their activity finally quelled by the heavy meal, thus the house fell into a hush that dared not to be disturbed. No telly, no radio, no boisterousness.
No one around that was likely to call.
Complete and utter boredom.
When I go shopping on a Sunday these days, occasionally I'll see a notice in the window of a closed shop, 'Let's Keep Sunday Special'.
Special?
Well, maybe - if it means I can wangle a nap!
But that's not really on the cards, so I'll just go for keeping Sunday fairly interesting instead.
How about you?
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