Oppressed by all that is Christmas

[jayne lee wilson]

As a non Christian, this time of year has always made me melancholy, especially when it’s coupled with Midwest American weather. And the rampant commercialism is disgusting. The time off from work is nice, though and especially this year.

...yes, like a secular retreat...... helps me to think of it as The Saturnalia.....(strictly 17-23/12, but who's counting now...)....

[Petrushka]

The great thing about Christmas is that you can take whatever you want from it - or ignore it completely if you wish. I was only thinking today of Christmas Day 1970 when assorted Aunts and Uncles, some not seen since the previous Christmas Day, descended on our not so large house despite the deep snow outside (for it was a White Christmas that year) and wondering how on earth my mother coped with it all.

Nearly all of the people who came round that Christmas Day 50 years ago are now dead. I now live on my own and see minimum family, those I want to see, in fact, not those I don't talk to anymore and keep in touch with a few friends. Christmas Day 2020 won't actually be that much different despite Covid. I've got lots of music, loads of books, a roof over my head, a reasonable pension. I'm very lucky to have retired when I did, very lucky full stop really and I feel awfully sorry for those whose lives and livelihoods have been wrecked by Covid and an inept government.

[DracoM]

Look out for yourself! And happy singing - no-one to tell you to stop!

[subcontrabass]

.However it is the adverts that cannot be fastforwarded that get to me a make me despair....perfumes, GAMBLING, people who cannot be bothered to butter 2 sides of a roll and put some filling in ;but must buy them made....you know the stuff apps, new phones/internet contracts/CGI ridden computer games: i don't see them as inconsequencial things i see them as BIG drivers of of of of Aaaagh...

Try installing a good ad-blocker. I have not seen an advert on All4 for years.

[Nick Armstrong]

Try installing a good ad-blocker. I have not seen an advert on All4 for years.

That’s interesting. I watch via the app on my telly though as I prefer the big screen experience... and there’s no ad-blocking available afaik... (I resort to instant muting & checking emails/messages to avoid the painful ads)

[Dave2002]

That’s interesting. I watch via the app on my telly though as I prefer the big screen experience... and there’s no ad-blocking available afaik... (I resort to instant muting & checking emails/messages to avoid the painful ads)

If you can get ad-blocking to work on your computer you can mirror the screen on the TV with the "right" kit - though that can vary. I oten do a direct link with an HDMI cable, but other devices - including wireless ones - may also work.

[Dave2002]

Ferney is in the same boat locked-down in West Yorkshire and sends his regards to you all....

Say hi to him and best wishes etc. from me, and I guess most of us!

[Old Grumpy]

Why are you in the same boat - is it a household? Which canal is it on? I think we should be told!

Oh, and I can think of worse places to be locked down than West Yorkshire!

OG

[Padraig]

..well just about.

I'd rather go with 'just about', 8th, though I'm biased to begin with.

Some thirty-odd years ago when my younger daughter was coming home from University in England for Christmas, she phoned to say that she was bringing a friend. A young American girl in her class was not going home to USA and my daughter could not think of her possibly being alone. We were looking forward to seeing all of ours - we had four returning students - so one more would not make much difference. We were conscious too that the young visitor would find it hard to adjust to a whole family like us, plus all the friends who would traditionally arrive on Christmas Eve.
She arrived and from the word go she hit it off with everybody, the two old parents in particular. It was a great Christmas all round and when it was over promises were made for Ireland and America to keep in touch.
Of course since then a lot of water has flowed under the bridge - births, marriages, deaths, Thatcher, Blair, Johnson, Trump and Covid-19.Lots to ponder and regret. But through it all the Hiberno/American alliance held firm. Every year the Christmas cards criss-crossed the Atlantic, developing into letters and exchanging photos, Christmas tapes, and 'political analysis' - all in long hand, no electronic correspondence whatsoever. I wrote a couple of weeks ago and I am expecting a reply before Easter ( That's a private joke which I tell her all the time), That girl, now a mother with a girl preparing to go to college, still brightens up our Christmas as she did then and, like Dickens, and carols, and Silent Night, has become part of my Christmas myth.

Ironically, my daughter who began that myth, is a bit depressed that her own daughter is stuck in England, not able to travel home for Christmas.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Same here (app on the TV) In our box set journey of Vanished/Killer by the Lake (2 series Lake Annecy) it was depressing to see that online gambling appeared to be 90% of the adverts.

Particularly from the information I'd recalled from a recent "Thinking Allowed" - revealing how they entrap and ramp up the scale of gambling by participants, how all the "Responsible Gambling" initiatives are window dressing and sanctions for transgression are seen as marginal costs for these vastly profitable businesses.

Online gambling and the loosening of restrictions is another canker that has grown in our society, with a virulent harm akin to alcohol dependancy.

[eighthobstruction]

Why are you in the same boat - is it a household? Which canal is it on? I think we should be told!

Oh, and I can think of worse places to be locked down than West Yorkshire!

OG

....Ah now I wondered at the time if anybody would make a canal reference, and almost added a water/boat based rejoinder (so hard to get hold of a really good rejoinder these days)....And we both are only 500 yards from Leeds-Liverpool canal....He in Wyorks and me 2miles away in Nyorks....we are a couple....a couple of old gits....

[eighthobstruction]

Same here (app on the TV)

Online gambling and the loosening of restrictions is another canker that has grown in our society, with a virulent harm akin to alcohol dependancy.

Yes very much so....and it was my lot (LP) who started the ball rolling, showing the way to the trough ....to all that might provide a trough, and those be lured to partake....an ugly business and social aftermath....

[Joseph K]

I'd rather go with 'just about', 8th, though I'm biased to begin with.

Some thirty-odd years ago when my youngest daughter was coming home from University in England for Christmas, she phoned to say that she was bringing a friend. A young American girl in her class was not going home to USA and my daughter could not think of her possibly being alone. We were looking forward to seeing all of ours - we had four returning students - so one more would not make much difference. We were conscious too that the young visitor would find it hard to adjust to a whole family like us, plus all the friends who would traditionally arrive on Christmas Eve.
She arrived and from the word go she hit it off with everybody, the two old parents in particular. It was a great Christmas all round and when it was over promises were made for Ireland and America to keep in touch.
Of course since then a lot of water has flowed under the bridge - births, marriages, deaths, Thatcher, Blair, Johnson, Trump and Covid-19.Lots to ponder and regret. But through it all the Hiberno/American alliance held firm. Every year the Christmas cards criss-crossed the Atlantic, developing into letters and exchanging photos, Christmas tapes, and 'political analysis' - all in long hand, no electronic correspondence whatsoever. I wrote a couple of weeks ago and I am expecting a reply before Easter ( That's a private joke which I tell her all the time), That girl, now a mother with a girl preparing to go to college, still brightens up our Christmas as she did then and, like Dickens, and carols, and Silent Night, has become part of my Christmas myth.

Ironically, my daughter who began that myth, is a bit depressed that her own daughter is stuck in England, not able to travel home for Christmas.

Nice story.

[Padraig]

Nice story.

Thanks JK .

[french frank]

Thanks JK .

I'm very lucky in being excused from even more of the Essential Christmas Tasks this year - no catering or having to get actual presents (brother is getting my boxed set of Vaughan Williams symphonies - might listen to them tonight and tomorrow before giving them away). I look forward to the quietest, simplest Christmas since I spent it alone because of family illness about ten years ago).