The “England Effect” - Thoughts on the long-lost art of the slow weekend

Generally each year before my trip back to see family at Christmas, I find myself seeking out old habits that  my childhood weekends offered. The abundance of opportunities accompanying a Saturday morning, those slow Sundays with coffee and a book, video games with my brothers in the afternoon, watching the football with Dad in the evenings before devouring whatever delicious dinner Mum had cooked up for us, accompanied by a DVD with my brothers in the evening. These are the weekend memories that I find myself craving on either side of our yearly trip back to - you guessed it - England.

Maybe these are glamorizations of my childhood memories, but even so, I remember feeling content in those moments. I think there’s nothing wrong with seeking that childhood contentment again when you can.  And, for me, the slow weekend invites that opportunity.

As we grow up and spend more time adulting - whatever that verb means - it’s important not to forget that weekends hold the same opportunities to reconnect with a slower, less rigid schedule of the working week for most of us. Whilst I have found the slow weekend hard to adopt, especially with unfettered productivity noise we’re all subjected too through social media, but I encourage you to seek out the long-lost art late lunches and lazy afternoons and find comfort in the little things that these precious two days held for most of us.