Last Game Before Christmas.

[Poshgill]

Agree with you entirely Elg, but you only have to look around in Tesco's to see that the Psyche of the nation is geared-up to retail. FFS the shops are only shut for one day and people are buying food as if the Myans prediction is coming true. 10 loaves of bread, enough milk to float a ship etc etc

Christmas has been slowly devalued over the last few decades. We will never get it back to how it was. I know I'm going to sound like the miserable old git that I am, I really think it starts with how spoilt the kids are. My friend has an 18 month old child and yet him and his wife have spent an absolute fortune on presents for the kid. Why? What does that teach the child. Well, it teaches her that anything she wants she can have. Now, I'm not saying that kids of today should be like my generation, when we were grateful to get a tangerine, six shiny pennies and a bag of toffee's, but there has to be a compromise.

Having said that, I know full well that when I am lucky enough to have grand kids, I will probably indulge them just as much.

Well, all I can say is, at ;least I am off work after today and not back until 2nd January. 1st time in 29 years of the railway have I had the whole Christmas period off.

I think I am going to get incredibly plastered!

[CadburyMan]

We got on pretty well many years ago when we didn't have Sunday opening didn't we?
We got on pretty well without 24hr opening didn't we?
We got on pretty well when the pubs used to shut at 11pm didn't we? (if you can't drink enough by that time then you're not really trying)

[brb]

I am generally against Sunday trading and working on days such as Christmas and Boxing Day. I suppose it is because I am of the age where when I was younger the shops were closed and you hardly saw a car on the road during those days.

Not a religious thing on my part but I just feel it is the one time that families were able to bond. However, I am has guilty as many of participating in the weekly shop on a Sunday as you do not get time during the week or Saturday match days. So a bit hypocritical of me.

I accept we are in a different time with views of new generations and changing views of older ones. I do not accept that no one has to work on these particular days in question if they so choose. Employers today set the conditions before you are employed and when employed also look at flexibility in maintaining your future continued employment in a current difficult climate.

We may all enjoy the benefits of today's convenience and may even reap the monetary rewards if employed as such but at what cost to the mental stresses and strains of everything moving at a fast pace and any erosion this causes to family and social values.

I know we have new laws that protect us but most of them are so given the tenth degree by HR departments that sole purpose is to ensure employers can push the boundaries within the law.

Been there, done it and eventually left it all behind for happier slower paced life style.