Tis the season.....

OK, it's now December and I suppose I need to acknowledge that Christmas is on its way (note, I have intentionally said Christmas and not some vanilla agnostic phrase such as 'the holidays')
So, what is it the season for??
Well, buying sofa's would be my guess going from the amount of adverts - guaranteed delivery by Christmas, as long as you ordered in September when the xmas adverts started! Not a bad lead time 3 months, just to ensure you have something new to fall asleep on after too much dinner.....
What else? Well it's the season of finding out which talentless nobody is going to win the x factor (as if I care), and which has-been celebrity finished the 'journey' as the best dancer - although I reckon most viewers only watch to see if Brucie makes it to the end of the series.
The rest - overspending, overeating, oversleeping and drinking too much.... none seem to be particularly festive or celebratory. Now I'm not particularly religious, but I thought it was the season of peace and good will? Not much evidence of that these days!
So, that's why I say humbug for the majority of the lead up to Christmas.... no giant inflatable Santa's or tacky decorations will be seen outside my house - in fact the decorations will not be put up until the weekend before (inside only). I will not be trailing round the local shops with a trolley full of enough food for the whole of the UK.
I will celebrate with my family, hopefully miss all of the reality TV 'Christmas specials' and if necessary sit on a crate (well they can't guarantee delivery in time for Christmas now can they!!)

Bloody tennis

Well, I haven't moaned for a while but the BBC really got my hackles up last night....
So I turned the TV on at about 6.15 and looked through the program guide. Not much on apart from Indiana Jones - OK its an old film but not any the worse for having seen it a load of times. Well, settled down in anticipation of large rolling rocks and evil nazi's and what did I get? An announcement from the BBC which essentially said "those of you who wanted to watch Indiana Jones - tough. Tennis (which was scheduled to be on BBC2) is far more important so we're cancelling our published schedule". Obviously the whole nation wants to watch a whinging scotsman playing in what, his second match so it must be really important eh?
I for one (and certainly not the only one) have no interest in tennis. Come to that I'm not bothered about rugby, horse racing, olympics and pretty much any other sport - not to the extent that it should interfere with 'normal viewing'. If I was interested in sport I'd subscribe to Sky Sports or espn - you know, TV channels designed for sports fans....
The BBC must think that the whole population is sports mad.... surely the people wanting to watch Mr. 'I'll support any team other than England' Murray are in a minority and the license payer really shouldn't have to be buggered around every time the BBC deem some sports event as being so important that it needs to go on their main channel? Why the hell couldn't the tennis have stayed on BBC2 last night? Then everyone who wanted to watch would already have been watching.... And what did they put on BBC2 instead of the tennis?? Top of the Pops 60's special followed by Les Dawson (yawn).... It's not as if the BBC haven't got plenty of other channels at their disposal - what about BBC3 and BBC4?
So what did I end up watching? Repeats of the Simpsons and Jason Bourne.... certainly not bloody bouncing balls!

Deodorant...

WTF... why on earth would anyone need a deodorant which lasts 48 hours? Are the very companies who are trying to make us all smell nice and fresh now trying to take us back to Victorian times by telling us it's OK not to wash because their chemicals will mask the smell? I certainly don't want to go 48 hours without a wash.... but then again, is that really what the manufacturers want? I think not - after all, that would mean halving their sales wouldn't it. So what is the point of 48 hour deodorants then? Well, it must be better than one that lasts a mere 36 hours musn't it? Errr... no. Could it be that people aren't seduced by 'drier, fresher, no white marks, anti fungal, attracts all the beautiful babes' marketing and they need a new angle? Hmmmm.... thats more like it isn't it.... But do the advertisers really believe we don't see through the crap and still reach for the same brand we've used since we were 15? Well they must do. I wonder how much of the price of your favourite deo goes on paying for some advertising company to make claims which may well be true, but have no bearing on whether or not you buy the stuff??