What happened to satsumas in socks?
With 20 shopping days to go I finished my Christmas present buying at the weekend, which I think entitles me to sit here and judge the rest of you, writes Dan Wainwright.
With 20 shopping days to go I finished my Christmas present buying at the weekend, which I think entitles me to sit here and judge the rest of you,
writes Dan Wainwright
.
Yes, shielded behind my smug expression I can now go about my business in town, politely stepping out of your way and sighing to myself knowingly as you push, shove and run your way towards the festive celebrations.
Actually I'm not being remotely fair at all. The run up to Christmas is always a bit hot and unpleasant but that's usually because we're all wearing three layers and standing shoulder to shoulder in centrally heated shopping malls.
Nonetheless I've never really experienced that goodwill to all men that's supposed to be popular this time of year. Nor have I ever really expressed it to anyone because I'm usually too busy trying to elbow children out of the way of the Wii games so I can get something bought and back to the office and don't have to go through all this at the weekend.
Christmas shopping is an odd experience. I thought that in the recession we'd all have tightened our belts and we'd be going back to satsumas in socks as a way of celebrating our Saviour's birth.
But there's no sign of that, not that I can see. The queues in Marks and Spencer at lunchtime are about a mile long while TJ Hughes is just one massive line with all the stock arranged as a sort of rudimentary barrier, a bit like the little forts you'd make out of boxes as a kid.
We're a funny old bunch when it comes to Christmas. Every year we're determined to make this one the best we've ever had. It's a foolhardy quest. You only have to look at what happens to any Albert Square resident who promises that, they end up on the floor in the snow or buried under the Queen Vic.
So it came as a bit of an eyebrow raiser to read that even families who earn more than £100,000 a year don't think of themselves as well off.
That's according to a survey by an insurance company who got their results printed in a few national papers. It's a bit worrying really when you consider the average household income in Britain is £35,000.
It just goes to show that the recession hasn't really changed us and made us re-evaluate the important things in life at all.
My grandmother used to say that it was having grandchildren like my brother and me that made her feel truly well off. Of course that was before we turned into surly teenagers who started communicating in grunts – the affection recession of the 1990s.
I've never really understood Britain's obsession with property either, even though I too felt the need to get on the ladder.
Surely a home, whether rented or owned, is a home as long as it's the place you wished you were when you're at work?
There was a time, when people really did have naff all, that a bit of fruit was an exotic treat. Now there's no way I'd want to go back to that. I love my Blu Ray player far too much.
But our mad spending sprees and our sheer lack of contentment when we do have cash in the bank and gadgets in the front room should be a wake up call.
We've learned nothing from the recession at all, it seems, and come Christmas we're just going to be as greedy as ever.