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

Ahhh, must be early November, all the Christmas ads are on the TV. Apparently I *need* a new sofa, shed-loads of food, quite a selection of new clothing, and sparkly snow falling while seasonal music plays in the background.

A regular column/blog I read, Tuesday Morning Quarterback (TMQ for short, mostly about American Football, but wide ranging in the other topics that come up) had a recurrent section on the 'Unified Field Theory of Creep' noting how events and things were advertised ever earlier e.g. Easter eggs in January, Back to school in July, Halloween in September, Oktoberfest beers sold out before it's even started, Christmas at Halloween, Spring at Christmas. Each week they'd record instances of this creep, but it's so bad in the case of Christmas that Gregg Easterbrook (the author) has retired it on the basis that "Christmas Creep has gone from sporadic to all but required by law". I understand advertising and getting the message out there, but it seems that we miss some of the joys of seasonal changes, by bringing them so far forward, we don't enjoy them as the anticipation trumps the actual event itself.







*I realise I've missed another day or two. Ah hey, so i won't get a badge and complete the challenge, but I quite like this ethos (from a healthier living group I'm a member of elsewhere on the internet: IF YOU MISS A DAY, THEN PICK IT BACK UP. DONT WORRY ABOUT GETTING BEHIND - JUST DONT QUIT! ...

[Amy P]