Sunday’s Just Another Word For Drunk

Over the course of what is impossibly nearing a decade I’ve normally encountered Sunday morning, afternoon and even evening as a ghost of my original self before I’m resurrected once again on Monday. Sundays have been accompanied by my own dark passenger, the one who lurks in the murky, muddy waters behind my tired eyes and sucks all the water from my skin, forcing me to rush to the bathroom upon waking up to down a few glasses of water before struggling back into bed. The passenger isn’t ever-present and always eventually leaves me alone, he is, of course, the hangover.

Now, maybe it’s because I’ve got a little older but I’ve begun to notice an emerging trend characterising the usual weekend festivities of drinking on Sunday afternoons as well. If it wasn’t enough that clubs seem to stay open later than ever before on Saturday night, now I’ve got to contend with the FOMO-inducing events going down on a Sunday, which, it seems, everybody gladly takes part in. It’s everything from the Sunday stomps at trance parties, catching the afternoon footie games, the bands in parks and even clubs that open around midday and stay open late into the night. I mean, I normally take part, but what is going on? Is this a new trend? And, if so, why has it come about and gripped people with such voracity? It’s as though our drinking culture has stepped it up to a level originally thought to be impossible, stretching the weekend out and straining every last drop out of this freedom from the work week so that, come Monday morning, you’re pretty much the Sunday zombie only with another heavy night under your belt.

I’ve recently started to blame everything on the media. Yes, your friends are terrible influences but why do they peer pressure you so fervently to come out and join them in one last day of revelry, one last day of freedom? The only reason I can think of is because the way the party is promoted to you makes it sound as though you have to be there and, if you aren’t, you should be ashamed of yourself and shunned from whatever scene it is you’re a part of.

Another conclusion I’ve come to is that a lot of people actually prefer a Sunday spent drinking and chilling rather than a heavy Saturday night. Dark clubs with loud music and the ensuing madness until the early hours of the morning aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and, because of this, a lot of people prefer to take it easy and then use Sunday as a way of expelling any residual stress left in their systems before the week starts again. Sunday drinking is also arguably more social than a Saturday night of excessive drinking and low morals. You get a chance to actually speak to people during the day and take your time with the drinks rather than punting as many tequilas your body will allow you to force down your gullet before you feel an unhealthy reflux start rising up into your sternum. This is not to say that people don’t drink as much on Sunday, they do, but if you’re the guy passed out in your vomit come 3pm on Sunday, you’re not going to get any sympathy and in the harsh light of day everyone’s going to recognise you the next time you go out.

Whatever the reason may be, I think it’s safe to say that the Sunday drinking culture is here to stay and doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon. A case could be made for it actually speeding up because event organisers and club owners like making money and people really like having some fun in the sun, especially when they’re too hungover from the night before to think straight as they splurge their hard-earned cash on the drinks they crave to keep going for those last couple of golden hours.