I'm writing this at the end of November but if everything goes to plan it's now Boxing Day and you are all sat around surveying the chaos and wondering how long it will take to eat all that food! Today is Black Friday, a recent import from America which originated as being the day after their Thanksgiving. Somebody in the Cunning Wheeze Department thought it up to get people out shopping as soon as possible after the holiday. Walmart (Asda) brought it to us and it is now recognised as the busiest shopping day of the year. The retailers are bent on extracting money from your wallet and of course the emphasis is on Christmas.
Every trick in the book is being brought into play, I saw 'festive mince pies' on sale yesterday at half price. Can a mince pie be anything other than festive? Will they still be fresh at Christmas or are they destined to be eaten sooner than that. We are even bombarded with adverts that seek to convince us that no Christmas is complete without a new sofa or carpet and if we get in now we can have delivery before the day! Now I'm all for a thriving retail sector but do you ever get the feeling that they are over-egging the pudding?
Most of all I think of the many families out there who are struggling to survive on low incomes in a normal week. They and their children are bombarded with advertisements from every direction but know that they face a terrible dilemma, do they go into debt to try to give their children the sort of Christmas depicted in the adverts or keep spending down as much as possible. Think of the playground conversations about 'what I got for Christmas' and recognise how difficult this can be for the children.
I'm old enough to remember very difficult Christmases due to the war, not our poverty. These were easy to understand and no matter how wealthy, everyone was in the same boat. We always got one significant present and a stocking full of treats. But in those days a 'treat' was a two ounce bar of chocolate or an orange. Ernie Roberts once told me about one of the Slater family of mill owners who used to hand out oranges to children on Christmas Day. Would that be seen to be an adequate gift now?
So I know there are difficulties for some and I hope that the rest of us remembered this as we were having a good time. I note an appeal in the BET this week for donations to the local food banks, I hope they do well. I think it's a disgrace that in this day and age the food banks are a growing necessity, I note the recent reports of the high levels of child poverty and rage against inequality, it's all I can do.... Now, the big question is, how long is that Turkey going to last before it's finished.
Family Xmas forty years ago at Hey Farm.
