Its Xmas time .... at The Range

[Donnywolf]

Started putting up the stuff in Scunny which is also full of Halloween stuff ( which I thought was early when that went in )


But good heavens 4 months plus is a bit ridiculous but not un expected. Expect it will be a Store wide policy


I once saw a Garden Centre near Skeggy decking their Store on September 14th and didnt think that would be beaten

[tommy toes]

Reminds me of this Loudon Wainwright song Wolfie

Suddenly it’s Christmas
Right after Hallowe'en
Forget about Thanksgiving;
It's just a buffet in between
There's lights and tinsel in the windows;
They're stocking up the shelves;
Santa's slaving at the North Pole
In his sweatshop full of elves

There's got to be a build-up
To the day that Christ was born:
The halls are decked with pumpkins
And the ears of Indian corn
Dragging through the falling leaves
In a one-horse open sleigh
Suddenly it's Christmas
Seven weeks before the day
Suddenly it's Christmas
The longest holiday
When they say "Season's Greetings"
They mean just what they say:
It's a season, it's a marathon
Retail eternity
It's not over till it's over
And you throw away the tree

Outside it's positively balmy
In the air nary a nip;
Suddenly it's Christmas
Unbuttoned and unzipped
Yes, they're working overtime
Santa's little runts;
Christmas comes but once a year
And goes on for two months

Christmas carols in December
And November, too;
It's no wonder we're depressed
When the whole thing is through
Finally it's January;
Let's sing "Auld Lang Syne";
But here comes another heartache
Shaped like a Valentine

[Bentley Bullet]

I suppose garden centres especially have to think ahead because they diversify into Christmas shops when the gardening season ends.

I've always thought it must be bloody hard work for garden centre employees.

[mugnapper]

Christmas chocolate tubs on sale in Sainsbury's Derby. And people were buying them!

[idler]

Started putting up the stuff in Scunny which is also full of Halloween stuff ( which I thought was early when that went in )


But good heavens 4 months plus is a bit ridiculous but not un expected. Expect it will be a Store wide policy


I once saw a Garden Centre near Skeggy decking their Store on September 14th and didnt think that would be beaten

They have just opened a second branch in Bradford not too far from us. That has got loads of Christmas stuff in as well. I can’t say that I’ll spend much there but the missus likes it.
I remember some years ago a garden centre owner at Otley telling me the a third of his turnover was December and the Christmas period. Amazing.

[Iberian Red]

The city of Vigo starts putting the lights up in June!!

[BobG]

If thery're anything like the Christmas lights in Malaga I can well understand why Iberian! Stupendous they are. And huge. From memory something over 3 million 'bulbs' the year before last.

BobG

[Sprotyrover]

London should stick to his excellent version of Carrickfergus!

[Iberian Red]

If thery're anything like the Christmas lights in Malaga I can well understand why Iberian! Stupendous they are. And huge. From memory something over 3 million 'bulbs' the year before last.

BobG

They are spectacular. The only problem is without warning or asking permission,the council would hang them from the balcony across to the otherside of the street.  Then they would change witch lights were on and bingo, carnival lights appeared. 4 solid months of feeling like it was the flarepath in my living room!

[BahrainRover]

Try living in the Philippines!!
Christmas officially starts on September 1st (Ber months they call it)
And yes from the 1st all the malls are blasting out Wham the lot, and are trimmed up.

[BobG]

Christ... I get pissed off with all that Christmas shit if it starts in November.

BobG

[Donnywolf]

Confirm The Range York Rosd is now filling up with Xmas gear as I noticed earlier today.

[IDM]

There’s a decent garden centre near to us.  Does a great Christmas section - stuff for sale, not just their own decor - in a darkened atmosphere to make it more like winter and more Christmassy.  Starts at the end of September.

We love Christmas so we go for a visit soon after opening.  Leave it to the week before Christmas when you’re getting into the festive swing, and it’s too late.  All the decent stuff is gone and the shelves are half empty.!

[BobG]

Immediately before last Christmas, very immediately, I was in north eastern Colombia right on the border  with Venezuela. In the shopping malls, and in the large outdoor Christmas funfair and exhibition in Cucuta, there were all the trappings.... Santa Claus, model  reindeer, big pictures of tree clad, snow laden mountains, and, fake polystyrene snow on the ground for the children to have their pictures taken against a big backdrop photo of a real snow covered mountain.

And all this was within spitting distance of the equator. It made me feel sick. Christian Christmas Colonialism.

BobG

PS. In all the time I have spent in Colombia and Ecuador - well over 6 months across the last 3 years -  I have met exactly one person who has ever seen snow. One. There are some, who live in the High Andes, who will have plentiful experience of the stuff. But the High Andes is Terra Incognita to just about everyone except a very, very few. It's an utterly different world up there and it has little contact with the lower lying lands.

[Smyth]

Immediately before last Christmas, very immediately, I was in north eastern Colombia right on the border  with Venezuela. In the shopping malls, and in the large outdoor Christmas funfair and exhibition in Cucuta, there were all the trappings.... Santa Claus, model  reindeer, big pictures of tree clad, snow laden mountains, and, fake polystyrene snow on the ground for the children to have their pictures taken against a big backdrop photo of a real snow covered mountain.

And all this was within spitting distance of the equator. It made me feel sick. Christian Christmas Colonialism.

BobG

PS. In all the time I have spent in Colombia and Ecuador - well over 6 months across the last 3 years -  I have met exactly one person who has ever seen snow. One. There are some, who live in the High Andes, who will have plentiful experience of the stuff. But the High Andes is Terra Incognita to just about everyone except a very, very few. It's an utterly different world up there and it has little contact with the lower lying lands.

Did you speak to any natives, ask them how they felt about the cultural enrichment they were experiencing?  You know ones not wiped out by the benefits of European immigration?
Can't remember seeing anything about  South America in the New or Old Testament, then again I'm a Hitchens fan so must've missed it!

[BobG]

I spoke with a very large number of people, many at great length. They were Colombian, Venezuelan, Ecuadorian and a couple of Brazilians. They all have free movement right across South America  - something we could copy in Europe to our great benefit.

If your education doesn't stretch to Christian colonialism in South America look up Pizarro, Cortes, Almagro and Valdivia and then look up Jesuits and their motivation. And underneath all that lot consider the various motivations of the royal patronage they all received. Absolutist Christian colonialism in all it's pomp. The Portuguese were almost as bad btw.

BobG