Not a 24/7 Society

A visitor asked me, the other day, if the Wholefood shop was open.
"It's Sunday," I said, "so I'm afraid not."
They seemed surprised.

I was outside the butcher's on Broad Street a few weeks ago. They'd closed early - it was about 3.30pm. I overheard a couple of visitors complaining bitterly - how dared they close just when the visitors wanted to buy meat?

"I don't think some of the shops in town want to sell books," said another visitor recently, complaining about how early some of the shops in town close. I tried to explain that some shops are one man bands, or have only a few staff - and they have homes to go to, and lives outside work. Some booksellers are very active in other areas of the community than just selling stuff.

"You still have half-day closing here?" some visitors say, in tones that imply 'how bizarre and archaic'.
Half-day closing is on Tuesdays, traditionally because people from Hay went into Brecon on that day to the market there.

"Why is nothing open before ten o'clock?"
Actually, quite a lot of shops are open before ten o'clock in the morning - but for the rest, there's a traditional answer again. In the days that the railway went through Hay, the first train bringing potential customers to town came into the station at about 10 o'clock, so there was no point in opening before that.

There are plenty of opportunities to buy stuff in Hay - but Hay is not a city, and has its own natural rhythms.
And there's more to life than going round shops.