That only explains half of the picture, though.<p>The photograph in the linked article explains it quite well to me - regardless of how &#x27;real&#x27; it is, there&#x27;s a picture of a shiny gathering with the dresses and the shiny clothes and the fancy food, and so on.<p>And there&#x27;s nothing wrong with that. I love me some good dress-up and the food there looks super yum. But the simple gatherings seem to have disappeared. Outside of family, do people visit just for the sake of visiting anymore?<p>I think it was the unified purpose, the school catchment area, maybe. That proximity. Everyone is everywhere now. My park is not your park, my pub is not your pub, etc.