Bah Humbug - It's December again! 14 days to go!

Sunday 11th December.

The second Sunday in Advent. Shouldn't I have stirred the Christmas pudding by now?

For an insight into Christmas Pudding, here's something I wrote earlier.

Incidentally, I have not seen any Christmas puddings in the supermarket this year. Maybe no-one wants to eat pudding. Luckily, I know somewhere that will sell them. But, I am not venturing there on a Sunday.

Unlike many European cities and the UK, Singapore is a thriving centre of commerce on a Sunday. It is the day when everyone practises the national sport - window shopping. Not window-shopping in a purposeful manner. Not window-shopping at a pace that allows me to either overtake or, at least, remain at a safe distance.

No, this is window shopping where I trip over everyone around me, in my attempt to conclude my actual shopping.

Sadly for me, this Sunday necessitated a venture into the super expensive expat shopping mall to purchase some printer toner. It was convenient. I was on the way home from tutoring, and the expensive mall was sitting there, beckoning me in all its consumeristic glitz.

Only hiccup - the shop didn't have the toner in stock. Silly me, I should have resorted to ordering online - free next day delivery.

While I was there, I made an attempt to avoid the fairy lights that require a second mortgage to purchase, I avoided the French bakery that even a Parisian would baulk at. I pretty much avoided everything that involved spending money.

But then, I became distracted. I tried to walk past the pop up Christmas shop. But like the kids that followed the Pied Piper of Hamelin, I was lured, lured into a cavernous area of Christmas tut. Tut that King Tut would have no doubt rejected, looking at the price tags. Really?

And for those of you, unfamiliar with the Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Robert Browning ...

I know we have an obligation to pay more, so that workers making these pagan baubles earn a decent wage. But, I have to ask myself, how much of this really goes to them, and how much is lining the pockets of purveyors of this artificial finery?

Goodness, day 11 of December and I am developing extreme Bah Humbugedness.

Now, where are the Christmas puddings?