Christmas - Bah Humbug

[STEVIEBOY1]

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting fed up already with the Christmas adverts on television/radio and the Christmas music being played on the radio and in shops etc.?

(I do feel for shop workers at this time of year, having worked in retail. They put the seasonal music on no later than 01 Dec and within a few days it gets really irritating, customers can be ratty too. I always give shop staff a smile and greeting, I know how hard shopwork is.)

 

[birchesgreen]

Oh yes, unfortunately my wife is a christmas addict. She's been watching christmas movies for months, last night was playing carols on her ipad.

Its a good job i love her a lot but thank god lockdown is over...

 

[yorksrob]

I'm just looking forward to a week off work.

 

[nlogax]

It's arrived especially early this year. I've never seen so many trees in front windows so early on, many before the start of December. Can't say I mind but I'm sure many who are stuck at home having to witness it must be being driven up the wall.

 

[Domh245]

I'm hardly festive at the best of times, but this year I'm feeling particularly Grinch-y. The fact that, as noted, 'it' seems to have arrived much earlier this year isn't helping

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Oh yes, unfortunately my wife is a christmas addict. She's been watching christmas movies for months, last night was playing carols on her ipad.

Its a good job i love her a lot but thank god lockdown is over...

There is one TV Channel 51 on Freeview, that has been showing Christmas Films etc for the past couple of months!!

I'm hardly festive at the best of times, but this year I'm feeling particularly Grinch-y. The fact that, as noted, 'it' seems to have arrived much earlier this year isn't helping

Yes, It does seem to have arrived earlier this year, people who put up real trees last month will no doubt already be picking up the dropped pine needles already.

 

[yorksrob]

One of the most tiresome aspects of xmas is being forced to watch rubbish telly because there's nothing else to do.

I suppose that at least the Government and it's advisors have tried to lessen the impact by ensuring that there's nothing else to do in the surrounding four months either.

 

[DarloRich]

RUK Forum would like to apologise for the late running of the miserable Christmas thread. This delay was caused by late running Covid 19 lockdown works in the Manchester area. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.



OBVIOUSLY Christmas is a difficult time for many people and I’m not trying to attack those who find it hard

 

[185143]

I had to endure Jingle Bells being blasted out of the car radio on my way to work at 06:30 on Sunday morning. Switched it off and drove in silence.

 

[DB]

I don't like christmas and normally try to avoid it as much as possible - but that said I'd prefer it went ahead as it normally does rather than the dystopia we have this year!

 

[nlogax]

Why has Chris Rea been driving home for Christmas for at least thirty four bloody years? Is the traffic that bad?

 

[DarloRich]

Why has Chris Rea been driving home for Christmas for at least thirty four bloody years? Is the traffic that bad?

You haven't been to Middlesbrough have you......................

 

[nlogax]

You haven't been to Middlesbrough have you......................

Went to Stockton once. We don't talk about that.

 

[DarloRich]

Went to Stockton once. We don't talk about that.

fair point.

 

[xotGD]

Lucky folk in the southern hemisphere get their Christmas holidays in the middle of summer. We have to suffer the darkest, dankest time of the year for a (in some cases) obligatory week off work.

 

[najaB]

We have to suffer the darkest, dankest time of the year for a (in some cases) obligatory week off work.

But that's the whole reason that Christmas exists as a holiday. It's got nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Even if he existed, all the nativity stories make it clear that his birthday would be in August/September.

Christmas is where it is because it's about the earliest that less technological societies could be sure that the days were starting to get longer again.

 

[ungreat]

I hate it..always have.
The time away from work is the only upside for me.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Many parents I know didn't like Christmas in the years between their kids going to Uni/moving out, and becoming grandparents. My mum is no exception.

 

[PeterC]

One good thing about covid is that SWMBO and I will have Christmas to ourselves without any duty visits.

 

[Cowley]

One good thing about covid is that SWMBO and I will have Christmas to ourselves without any duty visits.

I must admit that I did have to look that one up...

 

[Trackman]

Why has Chris Rea been driving home for Christmas for at least thirty four bloody years? Is the traffic that bad?

Deltic crank wasn't he?
Maybe he bought a car once they were withdrawn

 

[telstarbox]

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting fed up already with the Christmas adverts on television/radio and the Christmas music being played on the radio and in shops etc.?

(I do feel for shop workers at this time of year, having worked in retail. They put the seasonal music on no later than 01 Dec and within a few days it gets really irritating, customers can be ratty too. I always give shop staff a smile and greeting, I know how hard shopwork is.)

No .

 

[Gloster]

I haven’t celebrated Christmas for over forty years: my opinion of it is best summed up by Tom Lehrer’s Christmas Carol. The best one I had was a couple of years ago when I spent the time writing a business report, there being even fewer distractions than usual (I am blessed by not having a TV to waste my time on). And if you don’t like what’s on TV, go to Oxfam, buy a couple of books and find a corner away from the box. Heaven.

 

[DB]

I haven’t celebrated Christmas for over forty years: my opinion of it is best summed up by Tom Lehrer’s Christmas Carol. The best one I had was a couple of years ago when I spent the time writing a business report, there being even fewer distractions than usual (I am blessed by not having a TV to waste my time on). And if you don’t like what’s on TV, go to Oxfam, buy a couple of books and find a corner away from the box. Heaven.

I work in IT, and christmas day is usually when the main servers and their various friends with multicoloued lights (firewalls, tape drives, etc) get all their firmware updates done!

 

[Big Tim]

I used to get worked up about the "Barrels" of "Quality Street" et al stacked up in the supermarkets as soon as the "Back To School" lines had been scraped off the shelves in early September, but nowadays just accept that's the way it is and pay no attention. However, I genuinely felt sorry for a member of staff in the York branch of "The Range" when I last went in (the second week of September). He had been stationed by the main entrance to dish out hand gel / "sanitise" trollies and baskets. Right beside him was some tawdry four foot tall "singing snowman" which was belting out a load of hideous second rate Christmas songs, in a style not dissimilar to an inebriated Joe Cocker, whilst gyrating from side to side, completing this (presumably unintended) image of drunkeness. This monstrosity was triggered by a motion sensor, so any time someone walked by (i.e. every individual entering the shop). Half a minute of this torment was enough for me - I expect the chap working alongside it has long since run short of festive cheer!

 

[nlogax]

I work in IT, and christmas day is usually when the main servers and their various friends with multicoloued lights (firewalls, tape drives, etc) get all their firmware updates done!

That's pretty unlucky. Most corporate IT shops I work with are insistent on festive change freezes. Not much going on for the final two or three weeks of the year beyond break/fix!

 

[DB]

That's pretty unlucky. Most corporate IT shops I work with are insistent on festive change freezes. Not much going on for the final two or three weeks of the year beyond break/fix!

In our case, I make the decisions! And it is actually an ideal time to do it as christmas and boxing day are the least likely of any in the year to have people working, so if something gets knocked offline for a few hours it doesn't really matter. The pro helplines of the manufacturers of hardware/software also tend to be open and in little demand, so if anything goes wrong it tends to be quick to get an answer.

 

[najaB]

That's pretty unlucky. Most corporate IT shops I work with are insistent on festive change freezes. Not much going on for the final two or three weeks of the year beyond break/fix!

That depends very much on the organisation and what they do. For example, we have a complete code freeze from December 17th to January 5tth meaning no planned changes to anything that affects production systems. However, our internal IT team are going to be very busy doing upgrade work on the phone system since the number of people "in office" is a lot lower with almost everyone using up their annual leave balances.

 

[nlogax]

In our case, I make the decisions! And it is actually an ideal time to do it as christmas and boxing day are the least likely of any in the year to have people working, so if something gets knocked offline for a few hours it doesn't really matter. The pro helplines of the manufacturers of hardware/software also tend to be open and in little demand, so if anything goes wrong it tends to be quick to get an answer.

That depends very much on the organisation and what they do. For example, we have a complete code freeze from December 17th to January 5tth meaning no planned changes to anything that affects production systems. However, our internal IT team are going to be very busy doing upgrade work on the phone system since the number of people "in office" is a lot lower with almost everyone using up their annual leave balances.

Can't speak for our support team but they'll undoubtedly have Christmas coverage plans in place so if there's issues I imagine they'll be pretty responsive. Have made a mental note to check our support call volume over the festive period just to see how it compares to a normal time of year.

 

[telstarbox]

I used to get worked up about the "Barrels" of "Quality Street" et al stacked up in the supermarkets as soon as the "Back To School" lines had been scraped off the shelves in early September, but nowadays just accept that's the way it is and pay no attention. However, I genuinely felt sorry for a member of staff in the York branch of "The Range" when I last went in (the second week of September). He had been stationed by the main entrance to dish out hand gel / "sanitise" trollies and baskets. Right beside him was some tawdry four foot tall "singing snowman" which was belting out a load of hideous second rate Christmas songs, in a style not dissimilar to an inebriated Joe Cocker, whilst gyrating from side to side, completing this (presumably unintended) image of drunkeness. This monstrosity was triggered by a motion sensor, so any time someone walked by (i.e. every individual entering the shop). Half a minute of this torment was enough for me - I expect the chap working alongside it has long since run short of festive cheer!

It would be a shame if someone knocked the plug out by mistake...