In my last blog I mentioned that I returned to one of my favourite cities - Vienna where I lived thirteen
years ago, but forgot to mention something fundamental that has changed there. It seems a small change, but I don't believe it is.
Shops are now open on Saturday afternoons and some of them are even open on Sundays. That was unheard of when I lived there. The weekend was for family and friends – not for shopping. Once I became used to food shopping early on Saturdays, I enjoyed the quietness of the streets once the shops had closed. This was Britain in the 50s in another country: small shops; personal service and very little unemployment. It was a shock to discover shops open at weekends and I realized that long opening hours changes how people live their lives. Now Vienna does what we do and shops all the time.
Shops are now open on Saturday afternoons and some of them are even open on Sundays. That was unheard of when I lived there. The weekend was for family and friends – not for shopping. Once I became used to food shopping early on Saturdays, I enjoyed the quietness of the streets once the shops had closed. This was Britain in the 50s in another country: small shops; personal service and very little unemployment. It was a shock to discover shops open at weekends and I realized that long opening hours changes how people live their lives. Now Vienna does what we do and shops all the time.
I believe
the constant obsession with buying, buying, buying is not only making people
poorer, but unhappy too. Having lots of possessions doesn’t create
happiness, does it? Family and friends do.
Do people
have the same obsession with consumerism in your country as we do in the UK?
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