'There has been so much misery and heartache in 2020 we are long overdue some happiness'

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There’s been much talk recently about the approaching festive season.

Widely we’ve been encouraged (begged?) to consider our Christmas plans ahead of the day itself, and long before Black Friday and the deals which have been peppering the entire retail sector for weeks it seems.

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I’ve been part of the communication process myself via the radio shows, talking to retailers about their hopes and fears as the festive season proper starts to shape up.

I know we live in troubled times right now, but is all this a bit too much? Whether or not it is simply a sign of the times, or a new sense of enlightenment, education or plain respect, I find myself less than comfortable with the terminology of what is, after all, an American tradition which has crossed the pond to the United Kingdom.

Why does it have to be ‘Black’ Friday at all? Call me woke, but surely we can find a better way to express something that is geared purely towards trade. Shouldn’t we be doing better? I had a fascinating experience this week when I went down to the local cash-and-carry to do what was intended to be part of our regular domestic shop.

Walking in with a newly sanitised trolley in front of me – and a steamed-up view thanks to my dutifully worn mask – I was assaulted on all sides by what appeared to be a huge Santa’s Grotto of delights.

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Everything from monolithic widescreen TVs to advent calendars were on display; present potential presented for all ages and the ingredients for the coming season greeting both my imagination and my debit card.

Cleverly (strategically?), even my journey around the store was geared towards softening up any festive cynicism that I might have brought into the store with me. With Christmas lights ablaze, piped festive music playing and the kind of richness of view which tugged at the ‘buy me for Christmas!’ heartstrings, I was an absolutely targeted sitting duck.

For all that, and while I intend to spread my purchases through the remaining weeks before Christmas, it felt good if not therapeutic to be doing some shopping in person rather than staring at a computer screen at home, albeit with my damp, steamed-up face mask on.

With fully a month to go before Christmas itself – and then Brexit finally arriving the following week – you would be forgiven for thinking that this year’s season is nothing more than a period of intense retail activity, topped off by a few bank holidays and very little else.

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Through virtually every channel available, from radio and television to print and social media, we are now well into blanket corporate communication and everybody from retail stores to fast food chains is understandably desperate to be heard and bought from with whatever cash or credit limits remain.

It is absolutely fair comment right now.

There’s been so much misery and heartache during 2020 that we are all long overdue some happiness, including retailers and their staff, who will be universally worried for their futures.

With the second period of lockdown now reverting to the familiar (but re-structured) tiered system we’ve seen before, I’m as relieved as anyone that the rules surrounding the period between December 23–27 will be more permitting of families being able to share some precious time together, albeit with strings attached.

It’s been writ large that Christmas for all is going to be very different this year.

Surely that was a foregone conclusion months ago.

‘Tis the season to be jolly... and hopefully healthy too.