Bah Humbug - It's December again! 10 days to go!

Thursday 15th December. And a quick dash to the bookshop.

Why was it so busy?

Ah, yes, I went on the first day of 20% off for members and 10% off for non-members. A ruse to charge more during the year, and then charge a more reasonable price for books leading up to the season when most people purchase books that will sit on shelves and never be read.

Off I dashed. Rather like Santa's reindeer - only, I was dashing through the carpark trying to find a parking space.

Too many people out today. It took me 15 minutes to find a space.

And then I was dashing up the escalators, trying to dodge the people who refuse to stand on the correct side.

Finally, I found myself dashing around the bookstore. It's sort of a circular bookstore, laid out around a central set of escalators, so the dashing was definitely circular. It brought to mind a corporate ski holiday in Park City, Utah, many moons ago. The company I was visiting arranged a reindeer sleigh ride, complete with sleigh bells.

It was dark. The reindeer walked us around in a figure of eight - two circles. It seemed like we'd covered a lot of ground. Perhaps we had, but we hadn't gone very far.

So, there I was, in the middle of a bookstore in Singapore - Kinokinuya - dashing around, trying to find where they'd moved all the sections.

Why on earth do stores move things around?

It can only be to tourture customers, or make you find things you suddenly think you need, but didn't need when you first walked in.

Bah flipping Humbug, it's a good job my overspend was on books ...

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

Christmas nonsense rhymes

And why not? Christmas nonsense rhymes as a viable alternative to Christmas songs, which let's face it, played in the supermarkets in Singapore, really are a load of none-sense.

"Let it snow, let it snow," really? in Singapore? 

"Winter Wonderland?" - I just don't know - even walking around the supermarket in t-shirt and shorts, trying to feel cold, I can't place Singapore as a Winter Wonderland. Sorry, Frankie.

"Just hear those sleigh bells jingle ..." - more like the tills beeping as they scan the extra chocolate and other none-nutritious packages.

And, "Frosty the snowman ..." since when was he part of Christmas? As it hardly ever snows on Christmas Day, the link is extremely tenuous.

Finally, "Jingle Bells" - I thought Santa had reindeer, not a single horse. Seems like a song about a chariot race in the snow. I wonder, maybe it was written for Ben Hur?

So, with this nonsense in mind, and the last tutorial before Christmas for one of my students, the last fifteen minutes was dedicated to the art of penning nonsense Christmas poetry. His tongue-in-cheek rhymes, I believe would give any pseudo Christmas song, a run for its money ...

Fat old Santa had a bat,

To pick a fight with every bat.

But, then he found a big fat pig,

So, he ran away while doing a jig.

What could be more melodic than that?

And, finally, a couple more verses of:

DOWN THE CHIMNEY ©

 

We eyed the mince pies on the plate,

To check if he had ate

A bite, or drunk a glass of milk,

But all I saw was guilt.

The white moustache upon Dad’s lip,

Betrayed more than a sip,

And hard to hide the mince pie crumbs,

That sat all over mum’s.

Bah Humbug.