Sold numerous packs of Christmas cards today. Went for a walk this evening through local council estate and came across first set of Christmas lights in a front garden
Best order the turkey I suppose.
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Where did you sell the Christmas cards? Popped into the post office today and it was full of Christmas cards, I'd not even given it a thought till today.
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Tesco have had the Christmas related stuff on the shelves since the start of September.
A couple of houses in Oxford have Christmas lights up all year round. Probably too lazy to take them down.
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I dislike receiving Christmas cards from people. Mainly because it means you sort of have to send them one back, if you are not to appear to be a mean spirited churlish old Scrooge. I am quite at peace with actually being a mean spirited churlish old Scrooge, but my wife objects to me being found out. Goodness knows why.
But I really dislike wedding invitations. They fill me with utter dread. Quite apart from the whole precedure involved in standing around for an entire day and night somewhere you don't want to be, with people you don't want to be with mostly, the really irritating thing is that they all cost the thick end of a thousand quid to attend.
Now before you say that's nonsense, it really isn't. First of all, "she" now needs something new to wear. An entire outfit in fact. She then insists that I have something new too. Apparently I can't wear the same suit I had on at the last one we went to because "people" will notice. I don't care about "people", but apparently their opinions, in the unlikely event of them actually having any about me, should matter for some reason I've yet to fathom.
Then there's the hotel, we have to book into a hotel, and it has to be a "nice one" because it's a "special occasion". Even if it would only take us a couple of hours to drive home after the whole sorry business has concluded.
And of course you have to get "them" a present. No chance of getting away with matching Perspex salt and pepper grinders, even if you do take the time to steam off the Sainsburys labels. No, it has to be something "they can remember us by in years to come" despite the fact they'll probably be divorced within three years.
Thousand quid, gone, puff, like a firework.
:-(
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A *grand* really? Honestly it's just you ;-)
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Best post for years. And the truest. Truest, is that a word?
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On the subject of Xmas, I send electronic cards and probably only 5 ‘ paper cards’ max. And I never enclose those printed resumees of the previous 12 months events.
None of my best friends, whom I socialise with, get cards, nor do I receive any. I’ve got better things to do than spend an afternoon writing Xmas cards.
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Our last wedding (as guests) was a couple of weeks ago. Had a whale of a time. Cost me a new shirt (around £40.00 notes) and a gallon or so of fuel, and around £15.00 for drinks. Bargain.
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>> Cost me a new shirt (around £40.00 notes)
>>
Where do you buy your shirts?
Jermyn Street?
www.hawesandcurtis.co.uk/
Last edited by: Duncan on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 06:32
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>> they all cost the thick end of a thousand quid to attend.
I wonder if the young couple's invitation tried to levy an attendance fee as well? Its seems £150 is par, "to help us launch our new life" or some such piffle. If I got one of these I would ask for £150 attendance expenses, otherwise it would be a case of "Mr. & Mrs. Ambo regret.... "
As regards Christmas cards, "our" list is 84 addressees long. This is broken down as follows: 2 I know and like; 5 I know and can tolerate; 4 I know and detest and 73 I can't ever recall meeting or, indeed, know nothing about.
Admittedly, my part in the operation is confined to supplying 84 Dymo labels and half the postage.
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I wonder if the young couple's invitation tried to levy an attendance fee as well?
>> Its seems £150 is par, "to help us launch our new life" or some such
>> piffle. If I got one of these I would ask for £150 attendance expenses, otherwise
>> it would be a case of "Mr. & Mrs. Ambo regret.... "
I've heard about such weddings, but I've never actually been to one. I think it's pretty cheeky tbh.
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As regards Christmas cards, "our" list is 84 addressees long.
Sounds like many in my family. My gparents used to have a room full of them, I'd guess 150+ per year. My mum sends cards to people they haven't met in years, someone they stayed next door to in a Spanish apartment block around 1993 and haven't seen since.
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Yeah, my parents did that, as in sending cards to people they hadn't seen in decades. But the thing I still find a bit of an oddity, is "sending" cards to people who live in the same house as you do. I do it, because it's expected. But, it always occurs to me that it's more than a bit daft.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 11:21
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It's all a bit weird, sending cards to celebrate a religious festival to a sky fairy that in all likeliness doesn't exist.
If other religions did it, we would be laughing at them.
Costs an absolute fortune as well as the inconvenience of it all - I have to traipse up to Manchester for our staff do - which is a three line whip - otherwise I would avoid it.
What is more ridiculous is that you are the one ridiculed for not wanting to join in this orgy of money letting and fake bon-viveur!
Bah - humbug indeed!
Last edited by: zippy on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 11:30
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I agree totally on the work "do" thing. I have two very separate lives. My work life and my private life. I don't want to socialise with people I work with. There is always a hidden agenda and some people who are tolerable as colleagues when sober, are often equally intolerable when off duty and availing themselves of the free bar.
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I don't mind the work dos, we've quite a few during the year. It's quite a sociable place, with four or five big dos a year and a few smaller ones. I'd say I go to half or perhaps a third.
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Not for me I'm afraid, work is work and playtime is playtime. No wish to mix the two. As for the old chestnut about work related "team building", if I'd ever got around to writing a CV it would at no point include anything remotely resembling the words "team player" ! I'm only interested in a work environment where I'm either left to my own devices, or worst case scenario, permitted to be in charge !
;-)
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>> Not for me I'm afraid, work is work and playtime is playtime. No wish to>> mix the two.
Nearly everyone at ours goes to at least one do, not that anyone is counted or anything like that. Most seem to enjoy them on some level or I suppose we wouldn't keep having them. But no doubt some got to none, each to their own.
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Team Building.
After 2 years of working for an organisation which specializes in incompetence, corruption and bullying I'm delighted to say that the local manager took my suggestion for a team building day onboard and we are all going on a beano. I'm beyond caring now and will enjoy a day out of the office. I'm putting my notice in soon - got a new job !
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I heartily agree, Runfer and, for some reason, people often take office parties as times for utter stupidity disguised as bonhomie.
Another problem is keeping work from invading private life, which I imagine is very hard now, in the age of mobile phones. I quit work ages ago but had already used an ex-directory phone number for some years to hold it at bay. This survived an attempt by one notorious colleague to screw the number out of a mutual local student, who happened to be a BT manager and who, very correctly, pled user confidentiality.
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>>Another problem is keeping work from invading private life
One of the reasons for leaving my last employer (a major UK financial institution) was because they gave us Blackberries and we had to keep them on.
They would go off at 3AM, 4AM etc with agendas for meetings etc. updates on current projects or cases and demanding immediate replies.
Madness!
Then when my new employer asked for a reference from them (I had been employed by them for 11 years), they totally denied that I had ever worked for them!
It nearly lost me the job offer and I had to provide payslips to prove employment.
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Agree on the works dos. I don’t like them, feels like crossing barriers.
Especially when someone gives it “right no talking about work tonightâ€
What else are you going to talk about? It’s the common denominator that is having you there.
On another note, I detest the Xmas meals out. Ours is booked, 45 quid a head at a place where it’s normally 25 and you can guarantee the Xmas meal will be a lot worse.
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>> Ours is booked, 45 quid a head at a place where it’s normally 25 and you can guarantee the Xmas meal will be a lot worse.
But you do get a paper hat and a whistle...
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We DO NOT want the bruddy jokes from the crackers repeated on here thank you.
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Costs an absolute fortune as well as the inconvenience of it all - I have
>> to traipse up to Manchester for our staff do - which is a three line
>> whip - otherwise I would avoid it.
That's another thing, is yours paid for? Ours is from our own pockets.
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>>That's another thing, is yours paid for? Ours is from our own pockets.
Transport, accommodation and meal is paid for. Extra time isn't (travel out of office hours). Drink isn't paid for.
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Transport, accommodation and meal is paid for. Extra time isn't (travel out of office hours).
>> Drink isn't paid for.
>>
That's a pretty good deal. Of course if you can't get on with the people you work with then it makes no odds what's paid for or not.
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Works socials almost always result in someone shagging someone they shouldn't, leading to long term problems which effect everyone else.
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>> Works socials almost always result in someone shagging someone they shouldn't, leading to long term
>> problems which effect everyone else.
>>
I bally well hope not - we are all blokes!
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>> Works socials almost always result in someone shagging someone they shouldn't, leading to long term
>> problems which effect everyone else.
Used to happen occasionally when we were all in our twenties. I'm now pushing 58 and cannot see it happening in current place nor any recent work environment. At Xmas CA pays for meal and 'reasonable' drink - say half a bottle wine per head. In last CS post managers subsidised event from their own pockets. Only in one of my posts was there an unpleasant taste. Head boss effectively dictated what we did and insisted on whole of his 'command' going to one venue.
Quite like idea of an occasional social, for example it's been suggested we go to a pub close to work when they have a quiz night. There's a group of us who worked together in one particular role in eighties/nineties who still get together two or three times a year.
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We used to have "Socials" when I worked, just before Yuletide, when the Shift-lads got together and went out on the town. It was always a great night which we actually all looked forward to. Then our Departmental Managers and "other White-Coats" started gate-crashing the do's, and they started becoming more like team-building exercises which had the effect of ruining them. Some of the "Bosses" got upset by being told (in Drink) of what we thought of them, in some cases it got ugly, so we stopped having them! (the Socials) Sometimes work and play shouldn't mix! ;-)
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>> Works socials almost always result in someone shagging someone they shouldn't, leading to long term
>> problems which effect everyone else.
>>
Sometimes happens at ours, but everyone is a grown up. So as long as it doesn't scare the horses...
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>>
>> >>
>>
>> Sometimes happens at ours, but everyone is a grown up. So as long as it
>> doesn't scare the horses...
>>
I've known two instances where the wronged wife turned up at the firm to confront the floozie her husband got off with at a works do leading to unpleasantness all round. And another where an office junior who got involved with someone at the Christmas party which carried on for a little while afterwards marched into the managers office and spilled the beans on the various locations round the firms premises where they'd had adult fun, after realising her beau had no intention of leaving his wife for her.
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 14:28
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.....I thought the definition of a works Christmas party was that it gave you the chance both to lose all inhibition and any prospect of future progression...
;-)
Last edited by: tyrednemotional on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 16:02
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I was flabbbergasted recently when through a chance conversation I discovered I was the only guy amongst our crowd who didn’t pick his shirt and tie for a wedding to compliment his wife’s outfit!
Wouldn’t have crossed my mind in the slightest!
Of course made easier if I am wearing the kilt but I have to confess, the kilt on a full day wedding is actually really uncomfortable.
I often wish that William Wallace etc had went into battle in jeans, t shirts and trainers.......
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Hhahahaha Bobby, neither did I - It was a huge departure for me buying what I considered to be a loud shirt !
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>> Where did you sell the Christmas cards? Popped into the post office today and it
>> was full of Christmas cards, I'd not even given it a thought till today.
>>
A wild life centre I volunteer at..
I must admit I was surprised by the illuminations in the front garden but not harming anyone and it did make me smile.
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sat 30 Sep 17 at 21:39
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The one saving grace is SWMBO makes great figgy pudding.
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I don't mind a carol, and the Salvation Army band in the market square can be entertaining, but it's the 'visitors'...Ye Gods...
:-(
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>> I don't mind a carol, and the Salvation Army band in the market square can
>> be entertaining, but it's the 'visitors'...Ye Gods... :-(
>>
Feed the reindeer carrots and don't forget to sweep up afterwards :-)
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I hate "Xmas"! Though it's actually called Christmas, and I quite like that, it's not for any religious reasons, it's just a lazy abbreviation.
I can put up with the wet and cold though I really dislike the shorter days. Otherwise Christmas and the seasonal spirit is great fun.
And even by the new year there is some sign of the evenings getting lighter, by mid January the mornings too and by the end of January it's light until after 5pm, roll on Spring ...
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If you go into basic/primitive Christianity, not this organised stuff, you'll find that the X means more than just an abbreviation, it was a very early symbol that Christians shared (sort of a P with an X at the base) when Christianity was very subversive and underground faith, so technically probably more correct than "Christmas"
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I'm liking the basic primitive idea. Let's fully embrace paganism and turn it into a Bacchanalia
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 1 Oct 17 at 09:55
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>> I'm liking the basic primitive idea. Let's fully embrace paganism and turn it into a
>> Bacchanalia
>>
Turn it in to? For many it's that already!
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>>
>> Turn it in to? For many it's that already!
>>
Pagans, we live among you
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>>I'm liking the basic primitive idea. Let's fully embrace paganism and turn it into a Bacchanalia
That's fine if you're of Roman decent - but for us locals it's Yule!
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>> That's fine if you're of Roman decent - but for us locals it's Yule!
>>
I'm sure back in the day a Legionnaire ravaged one of your forebares and injected a bit of Latin into your DNA.
Unless you is a uncivilised sweaty that is
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It was the Vikings who ravaged my lot.
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I am mainly comprised from the Setantii and Brigante! - with just a trace of Norse!! ;-)
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It's always been an abbreviation of Christmas whatever the language and/or era so cannot be a more correct form.
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>> It's always been an abbreviation of Christmas whatever the language and/or era so cannot be
>> a more correct form.
>>
Why not? Who's to say what's 'correct'?
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>> Why not? Who's to say what's 'correct'?
>>
I am not really sure that it warrants an explanation, i mean it's not a matter of chicken or egg. It's kind of like the word 'app', it wouldn't exist without the word 'application'.
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Perhaps I should have said who's to say it's incorrect?
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>>If you go into basic/primitive Christianity, not this organised stuff, you'll find that the X means more than just an abbreviation, it was a very early symbol that Christians shared (sort of a P with an X at the base
Like this m8: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/Chirho.svg/150px-Chirho.svg.png
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Greek character (the X bit).
My father had a stroke a couple of years ago and was asked by a very charming speech therapist whether he could still remember the tenses of his verbs...he replied in the positive, in three languages he said including Greek.
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Ive seen the "X" in old documents as simply a printer's or writer's abbreviation for Chris(t) in combination names:
hence Xtian, Xtopher, Xpian.
If you object to Xmas you probably didn't like "oz" in recipe books, z being really a special squiggle to avoid writing "ounces" every time.
Or ampersands meaning "and".
The language is full of odd abbreviations, mostly old, like Xmas from around 1500 I discover on looking it up.
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Can I offer the order of the "Bah Humbug" - first of the upcoming season ?
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'Christmas' should be in the swear filter :((
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I haven't sent a Christmas card for years. My own family got the hint after about a decade and thankfully I don;'t receive any either. Mrs O'R exchanges a handful with friends, but that's about it. I think only two of those require postage stamps.
I'm definitely in the Runfer camp when it comes to all that nonsense.
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>> A wild life centre I volunteer at..
>>
It sounds fun. Is your wild life just one long office party?
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Yep. Never any shortage of birds either.
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Which reminds me, I’ve seen a new series of Red Dwarf advertised recently
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>> Which reminds me, I’ve seen a new series of Red Dwarf advertised recently
Thursday 12th Oct. Exclusively on my channel (Dave)
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Season's Greetings - sooty123
