Safe and Secure

My daughter always knows what he wants for Christmas, but when it comes to my son it is another matter.  Usually a cheque is welcome, but this year I’ve given him a pre-paid Maestro card, where all profits go to charity.

They’ve just announced on Radio 5 that Asda have run out of some nativity costumes.  Donkeys, sheep and snowmen are now no longer available.

Snowmen?

There’s just been an item on the BBC about the Humbug Club in a pub in Walton-on-the-Naze.  Mention Christmas and you get fined and they’ve even had reindeer on the menu.

But they have raised eight hundred pounds and this will be used to help terminally-ill children.

Is that the true spirit of Christmas?

I said in a comment to A First Date that I was Christmas shopping in Hampstead with a client, last night and we plagued by Christmas music. I know it’s not always Jingle Bells these days, but it gets boring and monotonous.

I remembered a story with my late husband that must have happened about twenty or so years ago.  We were shopping in Knightsbridge and he was thinking about a new suit, but not very serious.  He’d tried on one in Harrods, but it didn’t fit well and then he saw something a bit different in the window of Jaeger.  It wasn’t that different, as my husband was rather conservative.

We went in and the shop was packed, but after about ten minutes, he found that the suit fitted and I thought he looked good in it.  It did need to have the trousers shortened and bit and the manageress herself did the measuring.

I said that they were extremely busy and she said that they were having their best Christmas ever.  I replied that that was good and she said that other shops in the group, weren’t doing as well.

I asked why!

She replied that the music machine had broken and everybody was coming in because the shop was a haven from the Christmas music.

I’ve never checked, but I wonder if they’ve have Christmas music since.

The company invested in a small chain of shops and they did an experiment to see if the no-Christmas music would work for them. 

They think it did.  But they were also giving out sweets and mince pies.

On Thursday last year, I went to see London’s new place of worship; the Westfield Shopping Centre at White City.

I went by tube and they’ve even got a brand new and very light station at Shepherd’s Bush.

You approach down an outside walk-way which is partially covered, with restaurants all along one side.

I do wonder whether this type of design is so that people can smoke outside and not get wet.

Inside it is truly spectacular.  It’s also a bit different in that all of the very upmarket Bond Street brands seem to be represented.  You won’t find them at Bluewater or Lakeside.

But it’s also Christmas.

Does it have to start in mid-November?

It was surprisingly busy despite the recession and I even had to queue up for a couple of minutes at the till in Marks and Spencer.  But they were having a one-day twenty-percent off sale!

Whilst I was at St. Pancras and doing a bit of business nearby, my sister was cooking me a Christmas cake.

I’m touched, but she’s now gone to bed absolutely shattered.

Mary seems to be doing all the cooking.

She cooked dinner last night, again tonight and tomorrow she’s going to make a Christmas cake. One hasn’t been cooked in this house for some years, as my husband wasn’t keen on them and they always seemed a lot of effort to me.

But not to my sister.

It’s probably just as well, as I’m very tired now and quite washed out from everything that has gone on in the last week. I know that she’s tired too, but she’s not complaining about her fate.

Could I behave like she is?  I doubt it.