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?

The Fourteenth Day Before Christmas - Bah Humbug

Bah Humbug, it's 11th December. Wednesday. Woeful Wednesday and I have a cold. My nose is dripping. I don't feel very Christmasy with a leaky nose.

Reminds me of the Spike Milligan Poem:

My Nose:

My nose, my nose lived dangerously,
It's courage was no stunt,
And in the war in Germany,
It was always out in front,

But when the battle was o'er,
And we had defeated the Hun,
Suddenly, for no reason at all
My nose started to run.

Well, I can't run away from Christmas, unless I sit in the bomb shelter or hike up a mountain.

Handkerchiefs were normally made of cotton or a cotton blend. A square piece of tissue that was hemmed around the four edges. Used for wiping the face, the nose and even blowing the nose. They are not always that hygienic!


The paper tissue was used in 1920s and over the years refined. Today it is a common household item and one that has helped stem the spread of disease.


Probably the worst plague of all was the Black Death, 1348–50 CE. The estimates are that between 75 and 200 million people died from the pandemic. A rather large proportion of the population at the time!

Now you don't need to carry a posy of roses around with you, just sneeze into a tissue instead.

BAH HUMBUG

I wonder if the eleven pipers piping are using tissues to blow their nose and wipe their mouths? Piping can be a bit of a spitty past-time.