The festive season came early here at J’accuse. We forgot to log off and wish our readers all the best. We’ll be back with the New Year. Recharged.
Thanks for reading and hanging on with this blog as it starts its 11th year.
This has been J’accuse… blogging so you don’t have to.
It’s obvious that we’re going slow due to the rushing around for the festive season. Meanwhile we would like to wish all our readers a very good Christmas. Easy on the turkey.
I was assailed by a sad thought while contemplating the shopping strategy for the purchase of the Secret Santa present at the work Christmas lunch. Without hesitating for even a second I had already subconsciously calculated that I would be in time to order the product – whatever it was – over the internet. And that was the sad part. Convenience had finally trumped over trudging through cold and ice and wading through a human mass of consumers. I would sit lazily at a console (the cool word that fits laptop, desktop or handheld equally) and browse the shopping halls and alleys of the ether.
I shall search, yes, but not indiscriminately and serendipitally as I would do at the Trier or Metz Christmas market. My mind will focus on particular, specific products and thanks to the google hegemony (bing? what’s that?) I shall be directed to outlets of choice and be a few clicks away from my final purchase. The only obstacle I might have is to be found in the physical delivery of the goods. Pauly the Postman might be stuck behind piles of snow or some last minute strike just in time for the festive season. There might also be one of the usual misunderstandings between web and real world such as DHL refusing to leave the package with the Pack Up Delivery system at the local post office because I am not there to receive it (which totally defeats the purpose).
The internet may have opened new horizons of practicality with its ever open, ever available and ever stocked markets but it has taken something out of the magic of Christmas shopping. So this Christmas, even if you plan most of your shopping on the net, do dedicate a day to good old fashioned Christmas adventure – take the kids out to Republic Street and let them marvel at the atmosphere and music. Buy them a couple of warm “imqaret” on the way in, run them from one shop to the other like there is no tomorrow and if possible “lose” them … yes, lose them, for a few minutes until they can see the Christmas lights through the tears forming in their eyes just before you scoop them to safety.
It may sound cruel, but it’s the kind of nostalgic experience that they will surely remember when they grow up – not your office chair and bedside slippers as you click “Add to Cart” and fill up Santa’s Trolley.
