The habit of celebrating everything early.

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It is Halloween on October 31st, it has always been on October 31st. Try telling that to the crazy people I encountered on my evening out in London last night (October 27th).  On my train journey to central London, people were dressed as Vampires, Zombies, blood stained nurses and doctors (though they could easily have been real and simply finishing a shift in A&E). There was a woman dressed as a crazed zombified Bette Davis, a guy dressed as a vicar with blood stained face yet there were no Jimmy Saville costumes? Too soon perhaps?

This is a little gripe about the need to celebrate everything early.  Halloween is one example but Guy Fawkes Night is another. There have been fireworks going off in my area for weeks now and I doubt there will be any left by November 5th and as for bonfires, this area of London has seen enough arson and fire so you would wonder if the locals of SE London are giving Bonfire night a miss?

And Christmas, well Oxford Street has its lights up and most of the shops have some sort of Christmas display on already. I bet by December 24th all the Santa Claus look-a-likes hired for the stores will be ready to retire and they will certainly be sick of Christmas and sick of children.  And today, October 28th I am eating a Christmas themed sandwich of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce and declined the offer of an Egg Nog Latte of all things. Yuck.

I love Christmas and when I was a child I loved Halloween and Bonfire night but now, Halloween has been come an Americanised celebration of confectionary and slutty nurses and Bonfire night merges in with Eid and some of the other religious holidays that involved fireworks and bonfires and 3rd degree burns. I’ve had enough.

Christmas for me will be 4 or 5 days with my closest family, encased in my parent’s house, eating too much of my mum’s good cooking and entertaining my nieces and nephews and annoying my Dad with my choice of television programmes. Just as it should be!

Sean Usher
28 October 2012

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