Has Christmas Lost It's Way?
Car-mageddon. Bah-Humbug. A Final Plea
Has Christmas Lost It’s Way?
As we head towards Christmas (8 days to go at the time of writing) I thought I would pop down to our local shopping centre of about 12 shops and buy a couple of cuddly toys for Christmas day.
I need to have my head examined. What was I thinking?! The journey from home to the shopping centre should only take 10 minutes by car. After 25 minutes I hadn’t even reached halfway. On a Wednesday. At 11am.
Kids were still in school, people were still at work and it wasn’t lunchtime yet. Very British problems. I would have turned around and gone home but this was the only chance I had to get the blasted toys before we went away for the holidays. I gritted my teeth and turned on the radio because it was imperative that I listened to Mariah Carey for the 10,000th time in 2 days (someone calculated she gets $3M every year from that one bloody song) and endured the slow crawl through the stalled traffic
When I finally saw the shops in the distance I discovered that the monumental car-mageddon in the whole area was caused by 2 teenagers who had been tasked by the shopping centre management to stand at the entrance and exit of the car park and guide the cars in and out so the traffic would flow smoothly. The poor buggers just stood there waving their arms around like those inflatable dancing figures outside malls in the States, ineffectually pointing at imaginary car parking spaces in the distance while angry drivers wound down their windows and told the teens to go home.
My 10-minute journey took just over an hour. As I finally found a parking space – ironically, as far from the shop I wanted as possible, I sat in the car for a minute and looked at all the people getting their Christmas shopping. Some looked very happy, arms laden with festive shopping, others looked stressed and I wondered about this cost of living crisis that everyone was worried about. Obviously, it hadn’t hit this corner of Essex yet. I personally find Christmas in the UK to be a glorification of opulent spending dedicated to the almighty Pound. There appears to be less and less connection to why we have Christmas in the first place. I have now changed my normal greeting of Merry Christmas to Happy Birthday Jesus!
Anyway, as I walked out of the pet shop with the 2 cuddly toys for my dogs I surveyed the grid-locked car park that I would have to navigate out of and thought. ‘Those bloody dogs better be grateful on Christmas Day!’
Bah Humbug
I don’t think of myself as a killjoy but someone got me a Christmas card the other day and I said, ’Thanks, but I haven’t got you one, they’re bad for the environment.’ My friend looked mystified.
I haven’t sent anyone a physical Christmas card for about 8 years. Not since I discovered that in the UK alone, approximately 1 billion Christmas cards are thrown away every year. It would take the equivalent of 33 million trees to make that amount of cards. One tree makes 3,000 Christmas cards, meaning a single tree is enough for only 176 people to send cards, plus consumers in the UK use about 300,000 tons of card and paper packaging every Christmas. Globally, it is estimated that 120 million trees are cut down during this period. On top of that, many Christmas cards that are thrown away can't be recycled because of glitter, foil, or other decorative features and end up in landfill. Next time, you can make a difference by either sending a personalised e-card or reusing and recycling old cards and cutting them up to make your own new ones, or making your own from scratch at home. As a last resort, you can buy cards printed on recycled or FSC-certified card. Better still, call the person and say ‘Instead of a card, here’s me!’
A Final Plea
I would like us all to spare a thought for those who are going through crap this Christmas and those that are alone. I was with an old friend for dinner last night and we both pondered the absolute shit-show that this planet is in at the moment. In my 61 years, I have never seen it as dire as it is now. No matter what your religion, ideology or politics, let us mentally join hands around the world and look for peace this 2025. Peace comes through tolerance and acknowledgement of differences. We have to look for a common ground that will enable our children to know a world without bombs, tanks and guns.
I hope that you all have a peaceful and enjoyable holiday season as much as you can, wherever you are.
Best wishes, Simon
A good read! Very adult? The whole bit about going to the shopping center is such a mundane adult experience that I feel like comes with age yet I haven't had time to experience.