please empty your brain below
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Spot on, DG!
Sue | 05.11.15 - 7:33 a.m. | #
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Bringing religion into Christmas, DG?? There'll be carols played on the supermarket speakers next! 😉
Jo W | 05.11.15 - 7:35 a.m. | #
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Many years ago I worked in a supermarket. One year the Christmas music came on in October. There were so many complaints it was swiftly turned off. But it still came back on November 6th...
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 05.11.15 - 7:43 a.m. | #
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All I know is, those folks who can stock up on tins of Quality Street and other goodies now have far, far more willpower than I have. If I buy them before Christmas Eve... they'll be gone.
Perhaps that's the point. Double purchasing.
mighty mouse | 05.11.15 - 7:43 a.m. | #
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It feels like Christmas stuff appearing in the shops has been a lot less gradual this year. Supermarkets started sneaking in a little bit of Christmas branding last month, but all of a sudden, as soon as Halloween's out the way, it's full-on everywhere.
The most disappointing thing is how efficiently the Halloween chocolate was cleared out - normally you get a few days of cheap treats, but it seemed to be gone first thing on Sunday morning.
martin | 05.11.15 - 7:47 a.m. | #
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Pret in a Manger.
Tea over keyboard...
Gordon | 05.11.15 - 7:49 a.m. | #
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I am sure you know that you don't have to eat mince pies before a "sell by" date, or even a "best before" date. Have you not been watching Hugh F-W? (No, probably not, but you know it anyway.)
I'm not sure about the Bethlehem Inn, but the Jerusalem Tavern looked pretty busy last night.
Andrew | 05.11.15 - 8:33 a.m. | #
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I hate this time of year, when hot-cross buns disappear from the shelves for a a couple of weeks.
" ... Pret In A Manger ..." was hilarious, I'll now be able to stop thinking of it as Prat of a Manager.
Tunnel Bore | 05.11.15 - 9:17 a.m. | #
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Oh go on. Don't spoil it for me! Growing up in a warm colony I have always been told that Xmess in England was the 'real deal', all open fires, carol singers, wassailing, white snow and red robins. So, this year I am finally visiting! I need to be back before The Big Day, but I'll be there to see the Tree in Trafalgar Square and the lights ... If it is indeed all fakery, how do I find the 'real' English cultural experience of Christmas???
Antipodean | 05.11.15 - 9:25 a.m. | #
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@antipodean
That's all here if you want it - although real snow as early as December is unusual this far south. And you can't move for carol services.
Although you say you're leaving before the 25th, you won't miss much - it all fizzles out about lunchtime, and the remaining eleven- and-a-half days of Christmas are really rather dull, punctuated only by New Years' Eve of course.
Some of us still try to mark the contrast between Advent (like Lent, a period of abstinence) and Christmas: liturgically, the latter starts at sunset on 24th.
Bah humbug to you all.
timbo | 05.11.15 - 9:50 a.m. | #
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Here in Dublin, the Christmas lights went up in city on 1st November, and I noticed "festive" treats like mince pies/chocolate selections etc appearing in supermarket around the end of September. Thats all very well, but it just rams it home to me, how even in a religious country like mine, Christmas is a business, nothing more, nothing less
Martin | 05.11.15 - 9:52 a.m. | #
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Ahhhh..... one of the first moans of the Christmas season about how early Christmas starts.
Nameless Troll | 05.11.15 - 9:53 a.m. | #
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@ Timbo ... sadly I need to be away by the second week of December, but it is still the Xmess season, no?
Apart from the Bow Flyover, Lady Dinah's Cat Cafe (wanna join me DG??) and other assorted goodies of the East End where do people suggest I visit in order to find 'the real Christmas'?
Antipodean | 05.11.15 - 10:15 a.m. | #
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The complaints about the Christmas advertising starting sooner every year start sooner every year
Arctic Troll | 05.11.15 - 10:28 a.m. | #
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About the only good thing with the increasing commercialising of Hallowe'en is that the Xmas stuff has to wait til November before it's full on.
Not that it's stopped certain TV channels showing Holiday-themed films for the past month. As 'tis it's a couple of weeks before Sunday Next Before Advent.
Bronchitikat | Homepage | 05.11.15 - 10:54 a.m. | #
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'Pret in a Manger' - VG.
Jonathan Wadman | 05.11.15 - 11:11 a.m. | #
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"Where do people suggest I visit in order to find 'the real Christmas'?"
Just a wild guess, but I'm guessing you won't find it it in M&M World!
Absolutely brilliant post DG!! That's really made me laugh.
Cornish Cockney | 05.11.15 - 11:12 a.m. | #
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Christmas Day I'll be alone sitting in the corner at the pub if anyone is interested...same place as last year, the year before that and (you guessed it) year before that...and the year...oh you get the picture!
Grumpy Anon | 05.11.15 - 3:23 p.m. | #
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@antipodean
purists would say that the second week of December is only the second week of Advent, but Christamssy things will be difficult to miss by then. Depends what you mean by the real Christmas I suppose. There will be carol services, Christmas trees and whatnot galore.
A quick Google finds plenty of carol services, including one in St martin in the Fields (Trafalgar Square) nearly every evening from December 3rd, competing with the ones under the giant Norwegian tree outside.
The Hyde Park and Barbican Christmas markets both start in November or, if you fancy a day out of town, Lincoln's runs from 3rd - 6th.
Or, if skating is your thing, plenty of pop-up rinks will be operating from mid-November at places like Canary Wharf, Hampton Court, The South Bank, the Natural History Museum and Somerset House.
At least by going home two weeks before Christmas you'll muss the annual ceremony of the shut down of the entire transport network!
The Bow Flyover? Shouldn't that be the Ho Ho Ho Flyover? (as used by route [December] 25)
Hope you have a good stay.
timbo | 05.11.15 - 4:24 p.m. | #
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Same is happening here in Canada, alas. Our neighbours to the south don't even start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but in Toronto the big Santa Claus parade is this weekend!
Jim Webber | 05.11.15 - 8:00 p.m. | #
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Think we really need to ask ourselfs ...what is Christmas? What does it mean in the 21st Century? Can't wait to see if TfL site uses the term "festive period" again instead of "Christmas" as did last year or describes "Christmas Day" as simply "25th December".
E | 05.11.15 - 8:27 p.m. | #
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Jim Webber..guess you've never been as far south as Washington DC. All of the above rants applies in spades to most of the USA. So the Aussies will have to try south of the US border(Mexico, Brazil??), to maybe find a bit of authentic Christmas in December. Oh..DG..I too am bowled over by 'Pret in a Manger'.
Colesville Garth | 06.11.15 - 2:12 a.m. | #
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"Our neighbours to the south don't even start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving."
I can assure you, (I live in Cleveland, Ohio) as soon as the Halloween crap is pulled off the shelves, it is immediately replaced by Christmas crap!
Jackal | 06.11.15 - 4:18 a.m. | #
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Cracking post - how long did it take you to come up with that? Pret in a Manger *chuckles*
You're better than anyone who writes for the Guardian. Sam bloody Wollaston please take note.
Herdwick | 06.11.15 - 4:33 p.m. | #
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