When I was little, about four, I remember the neighbors borrowing things from my grandmother.  “Miss Joyce, let me borrow a little sugar” they would say.  They also borrowed baking soda, salt, and flour.  Most of the time my grandmother  gave what little she had because she knew that it would be returned.   Being only four years old, it never occurred to me why they had to borrow.  Now the reason is pretty clear; they either had no money or it was Sunday.  We lived in the West Indies and on Sunday everything was closed.

I lived and studied in North America for a while and enjoyed the differences that makes North America so great.  One of them is that stores and other businesses are allowed to open on Sunday.  My North American friends probably take this luxury for granted.  I now live in Europe and must adjust to the Sunday business laws.  I call it the Sunday siege.  If I forget to buy something on Saturday then on Sunday I have to make do without or borrow from my neighbors.

Toiletries are the most embarrassing things to try and borrow.  I can understand borrowing a roll of toilet paper but how do you borrow toothpaste or deodorant without being a weirdo.  Also, how would you return those items?  I don’t remember any of my grandmother’s neighbors saying, “Miss Joyce, can I borrow a little deodorant?”  I miss a lot of things from North America but the thing that I miss the most is living without a Sunday siege.