Thursday, December 21, 2006

Christmas in the Shops

The shops here are all now in full Christmas mode.

I went into the Marks & Spencer in Kingston this past week looking for something that I needed for the house and was pleased to find that the shop was not a complete mob scene!

At the best of times I dislike shopping. At Christmas time I detest it with a passion! Christmas shopping combines two things that I cannot stand (crowds and shopping) into one thing that I truly cannot stand. As a friend of mine used to put it:

"I'd rather be dragged naked through a cactus patch full of rusty tacks and broken glass with my lips super-glued to the tailpipe of a 1957 Greyhound Bus than go into a mall at Christmas time!"

The shops here in Kingston are a bit of a different story. Yes, there are still crowds, but they tend to be purpose driven. They are getting where they need to be, getting the things they need and getting out. They don't spend hours blocking me from doing what I need to do. And when they do get to the tills, they are not there in thronging masses which outnumber the entire population of South Dakota.

But I digress.

I went into the M&S to get a couple things I needed for the house and was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get in and get out in a mater of minutes. Why is it that I can do that here and never seem to be able to do that back home?

Hmmm… I may have to re-think my revulsion to Christmas Shopping.

I hope wherever you are, you have had a wonderful experience today!

Don Bergquist - 21 December 2006 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK

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