h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That would be a bit of a long walk!

Deb

Are you sure it wasn't squirrels?

The vast majority of our squirrels are black - and more interested in taunting our indoor cats than actually nosing a window.

We have a couple of black squirrels here, but the rest are gray.

I don't trust any of them~!

Nor do squirrels trust each other. They're fairly rare among animals in that way.

They can't trust each other less than meerkats, surely? No other species operates such a surveillance regime.

Squirrels watch each other to see where the other squirrel has buried their nuts, and pretend to bury nuts when they think they're being watched to lure other squirrels away from their real burial spot. With their big, red bushy tails, like robins they look quite Christmassy on cards against a snowy background.

<BB<

Some corvids do that pretend burying, too.

Thank you for bringing the topic back to Christmas, Bluebottle.

Having been in retail for most of my life, apart from four years in the Casino trade where Boxing Day was ladies’ day and totally OTT, I find Christmas overrated and I don’t get excited as ny November I’m festered out.

I find the songs schmaltzy, cliched and dirgy, the films are similar, except the action movies that provide a frisson of excitement, such as die hard.

My Mum has been watching Christmas movies on The Sony film channel since the 1st Dec so currently I am looking forward to 2nd January.

I am in no way Bah Humbug, having sent cards to absent friends and family, and bought everyone dear to me presents. However I then draw the line. Not being a Christian, it feels hypocritical to do as much as I do.

Hope Weber for those that do, enjoy the festive season and see you on the other side.

MMF

Overexposure to *anything* can be a problem. They say that people who work in chocolate factories end up hating chocolate. Yeah, I know, hard to picture, but still......

I like Christmas carols from two or three hundred years ago. They have nothing to do with nasally resplendent flying reindeer, or silly anthropomorphic snowmen, or the other bilge that saturates the public-address systems of most shopping centers this time of year. I'm fine with carols that are essentially lullabyes for a little baby. Or about a bright star (it's dark most of the time, so thinking about some extra light is kind of nice). And what's so terrible about imagining being in a stable with kindly, warm animals?

I don't believe in angels, but so what if someone wrote songs about angels coming down from the sky to offer good news? It's called fantasy when a novelist writes about it. I like a good fantasy story. This is a fairly good one.

Winter is harsh and long and sometimes unbearable. I like starting it with some kindness and good news and fun. I suspect that millions of people over the centuries have had no particularly religious motives for celebrating; they just wanted to have a good time before the hard times came. As do I right now.

I'm a bit bah humbug at this time of year these days, as I've heard the majority of the UK shops' Christmas playlist numerous times before and there seems to be so much pressure to be happy rather than happysad, even though a lot of people are happysad at this time of year...

I do like a bit of Winter Solstice celebration, though, so I have put a few decorations up and enjoy the opportunity to find thoughtful gifts for my friends and family, and to send cards to keep in touch with people I don't see often.

Is the UK the most Christmas-obsessed country on ?
There's an interesting news story today saying that people in the UK do more online searches related to Christmas than people anywhere else in the world: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42356135
I know at least one Christmas shop that stays open all year round - there's one in Shanklin. Mind you, I have seen also a Christmas shop open in August in the US (although admittedly that was at Disneyworld, so not really representative of a typical US town).

Does the sudden arrival of Christmas pop-up shops feel festive? They just seem tacky, but I do quite like the Christmas markets that arrive in city centres, and annually meet a friend to quaff a quart .

<BB<

I had a Christmassy feeling yesterday whilst shopping. I hope it continues - this dreary wet weather, not cold, not snowy, is making it so difficult to get in the spirit. I haven't even written any cards yet. (but many thanks to those who have already sent me one - you will get one in the end!)

Paul - if you are looking for some new kind of Christmas music, you should try the Spanish carols. They are the least Christmassy kind of thing about. Even less so if you translate the lyrics. I got to know them when I lived in Spain as an au pair (that was while Franco was still alive).

This is typical:

http://youtu.be/De2_8Bh3NBE

or this

http://youtu.be/G3ya3HcXFDM

or this

http://youtu.be/_Wrc6Q7acME



I bought a cassette, but I seem to have lost that, but I also bought a book of them, which I think I might have another look at.

The BBC website had a feature on Christmas music today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/42397208/why-mariah-carey-is-still-queen-of-the-christmas-charts
Apparently Christmas classics like Elton John's 'Step Into Christmas' and Chris Rea's 'Driving Home for Christmas', despite being 3 or 4 decades old, have reached their highest ever chart positions this year.

<BB<

hi, TC

I sang an all-Spanish Christmas concert a few years ago.

I'm also fold on the villancicos of Padre Antionio Soler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs3WY25iOGs

I like to hear all those past Christmas hits (although many didn't make it to no 1). I have a 'Best Christmas Hits' album & like to play it while putting up decorations & wrapping presents.

Cold evenings with twinkly lights is definitely festive. We're out carol singing this evening & I think it's going to be unseasonably mild...