IT S Christmas! Okay, it s not. Not in my world anyway. I have the retuneth of eldest son from travels (Martin is currently in Thailand) middle son (Aaron) getting married and my significant birthday to look forward to, all in the next few weeks, so I wou

IT'S Christmas! Okay, it's not. Not in my world anyway. I have the retuneth of eldest son from travels (Martin is currently in Thailand) middle son (Aaron) getting married and my significant birthday to look forward to, all in the next few weeks, so I would be more than happy to put Christmas off until next spring. Others, however, or a certain card shop in Ely, wants to drag us kicking and screaming into the festive season. Now, without wishing to make awful generalisations or be accused of sexism, we all know that for the average man shopping early for Christmas means the day before Christmas Eve and for the rest of us, I guess, September (end of) or October would be considered somewhat early. Having said that, personally I think October is early enough to think about a difficult to organise present and maybe even to confirm where you are likely to be eating your Christmas lunch, but cards can certainly wait till November!

It's August! Even if you buy the cards now, are you really going to sit down and write them? Why can't we enjoy the seasons instead of being rushed headlong into the next commercial opportunity. For goodness sake let's all enjoy 'pick your own' strawberries, buying bikinis and summer dresses we will never wear in the sales, tomato gluts, barbecues, traffic jams on the M25 and days out at the seaside before we even contemplate the Christmas card list.

While I'm on the theme of seasonal shopping, my mum told me the other dad that she had experienced some difficulty in buying my dad some new slippers. A very nice lady in a well known shoe shop (not in Ely) smiled sweetly at mum and told her politely, but firmly, that they didn't stock slippers until October. Now my mum is of the generation of women who wouldn't dream of leaving the house without a packet of tissues and a polo mint. She would also certainly not leave home without her slippers if she was visiting someone. Shoes off at the door and slippers on, so slippers are an all-year round necessity. It has to be said, however, that Dad was less keen to find new slippers because the old ones have just got comfy and he didn't want to give them up if even if the bottoms had gone shiny (dangerous in modern homes with wooden floors) and there was a hole in the toe.

So there you have it. What a strange commercial world we live in. You can buy Christmas cards in August, but don't even think about replacing your slippers till October!