Hi Everyone
Except for those of us approaching middle age, many people and families are looking forward to the Christmas and New Year break. In my early working days, our annual holiday was the first two weeks of August, before resuming our five and a half day working treadmill until lunchtime on Christmas Eve when the boss would treat us to a drink and mince pie assuming that we had got a good boss. In addition, on my first working Christmas, my boss gave me a small box of chocolates. That just over four month period with no breaks was, for me the most difficult time of the year so the Christmas holiday was much anticipated by us all. That Christmas holiday was Christmas Day and Boxing Day with two extra days if it coincided with the weekend. Then it was back to work until Easter with no New Year holiday. Some years later the building industry decided that we should have a week's holiday at Christmas as the weather was likely to be bad but that meant that we had a week less holiday in the summer. It was a bad idea then and still would be now with global warming. Now unless you work in a job that requires you to work during the festive holiday, you are likely to finish work on Friday lunchtime on the 22nd of December before reluctantly resuming work on Tuesday 2nd January. The reward for those of us who had to work all those long hours is that on 2nd January we can continue our holiday for the rest of the year.
When we were a working family, Saturday morning was shopping day as there was no internet or click and collect. To beat the crowds we would be up, ready, and in town when the shops opened at 8-30am. By 11 o'clock we would be on our way back home with the crowds who we christened the Blobbies just beginning their shopping trip. This weekend a local popular visitor attraction had its Christmas festival with the combination of shops, a garden centre, Italian gardens, and lakeside walks proving a heady attraction. Having forgotten the lessons of the past we found ourselves in a long queue of cars just trying to get there realising that we too had become Blobbies. We parked our car among the other two thousand before walking through the gardens to gaze at the fifty or so stalls filled with things that we no longer want or need. Although the stall holders would not benefit much from our purchases, the mild, dry sunny weather would have been perfect for them. By mid afternoon it was time for us to learn the lesson of the day and escape before the Blobbies started their journey home. Some of them are probably still there and it will all be repeated the next day, without us of course.
This week I was shocked to read that effectively nearly 300,000 people in England are homeless and that does not include many who are being provided with a temporary bed by a friend. Ok, many of those 300,000 are not living on the streets but are in hotel or hostel accommodation paid for by the state but it is an alarming statistic when the government set out a plan a couple of years ago to eliminate homelessness altogether. It strikes me that it is another of those promises and aims that we know when they are announced, will prove impossible to complete.
Just a Thought :
My friend gave his children a set of batteries for Christmas with a note saying "Toys not included".
When life gets hard, try to remember: the life you complain about is only a dream to some people.
Brian
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