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Saturday 22 October 2022

Hard Work



We recently visited our local garden centre which as usual is getting ready for Christmas. A sea of glittery tat gradually taking shape where not so long ago it was outdoor furniture, barbecue hardware and even some gardening sundries.

Not only that, but on the way to Norfolk we stopped off at another garden centre for a break and a coffee and they were at it too. Another sea of glittery tat in the construction stage and to my eye, much of it was the same glittery tat. No doubt from the same Chinese container ship.

There is nothing quite like Christmas for plunging the knife into consumer society. If it wasn’t for the risk of making common cause with environmental nutters, it would be easy to take seriously the notion that Something Must Be Done.

Before Christmas, we have totally ghastly Halloween of course. Then Guy Fawkes Night or whatever we choose to call it. Then after Christmas we have New Year. 

At this time of year, not becoming a puritan is really hard work. Maybe this year will be different, maybe people will cut back on the tat, but it's not something I'd bet on.

8 comments:

Sam Vega said...

I'm happy with my puritanism. What I particularly hate is the adverts put out by the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury. The hypocrisy is the worst - the pretence that they are promoting goodwill to all people in a sort of twee snuggly-wuggly family festival of cosy scrumptiousness, when all they want is to increase sales.

Oh, and those houses festooned with tacky lights.

Tammly said...

Well you're in the right place to be a bit of a puritan AK most of the Puritans came from East Anglia.

johnd2008 said...

It is even worse here in New Zealand as of course it is in the middle of summer.There is nothing like going into a shop which is festooned with Christmas crap and with warbling Christmas music when the temperature is in the 30s Centigrade.Get in the mood? I think not.

Scrobs. said...

As the Yanks don't 'celebrate' Guy Fawkes night, perhaps they'll use January 6th as an alternative, and pretend to blow up The Capitol building!

You can see the sort of tat they'd sell in the lead-up to the big day, blow-up effigies of Pelosi, Biden's Zimmer frame with lights plastered all over it, Kamala in a real-life Punch and Judy show, etc!

That could be one of the first decrees Donald Trump could enact when he gets back in the WH!

dearieme said...

Halloween was great fun when I was wee. But then it wasn't the American version. I remind you of Dearieme's Law: American habits spread but only the bad ones.

A K Haart said...

Sam - we've been wondering if those houses usually festooned with tacky lights will still be festooned this year.

Tammly - somehow I can see why. Maybe it's something in the air.

John - it doesn't really work with grey drizzle either.

Scrobs - that's a good idea. We can dream.

dearieme - oh dear, Dearieme's Law may have an unfortunate effect on our elections.

dearieme said...

@AKH: Toni Blair deliberately passed laws to make election cheating easier.

A K Haart said...

dearieme - he did, and there seems to be no great interest in tightening things up.