28th Nov 2023
Another year almost gone and I have planned, loosely, my annual Christmas/New Year 'Bah Humbug' Avoidance Scheme (CNYBHAS). Of course wherever you go the Christmas palaver will be on display, even in non-Christian countries where the local population have zero knowledge of its origins. You try to explain to a Vietnamese waitress sporting reindeer horns headgear about 'babies born in mangers', 'wise men' and 'Santa Claus on his reindeer powered sleigh' and you quickly lose their interest and understanding. Apart from anything else, their displays of snowy fairyland scenes are prolific. None of these people have probably seen snow, let alone poxy reindeer! But it all helps to sell things to tourists. At least I usually manage to avoid the intensely tacky UK version of events with the incessant obligation to be 'jolly'!
