Merry Xmas everyone

[robbelg]

I've just seen an advert for Xmas trees!!!!!!

Watching Sky News 10 minutes ago

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH !

[bungeejumper]

Harrumph. There's always one.......

I know the fashion editor for a popular women's magazine, and she can tell you exactly what the fashion chains will be selling this Christmas. The styles were chosen last month, and by next month ten million sewing machines in the Far East will be turning them into reality so that they can be containered over to London in good time and at minimal expense. The same goes for next Christmas's toy fashions, which were selected in China back in April.

Xmas trees? They'll be lopped and harvested at least two months in advance of the big day, and they've probably all been pre-sold to the DIY chins by now. The only significant thing we still need to guess is which dodgy entrepreneur will be operating this year's Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen Winter Wonderland, complete with mud and plastic reindeer and a chain-smoking Santa who doesn't wrap the presents.

Plus ca change.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

What happened to Grumpy old Fools? Sorry, I think I meant Bitter Lemons?

Bah, humbug.

[XFool]

DON'T!

[Slarti]

I've just seen an advert for Xmas trees!!!!!!

Watching Sky News 10 minutes ago

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH !

Well if you will watch Sky News

[dionaeamuscipula]

I've just seen an advert for Xmas trees!!!!!!

Watching Sky News 10 minutes ago

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH !

Sky News you say?

I'll bet they were fake.

DM

[melonfool]

Harrumph. There's always one.......

I know the fashion editor for a popular women's magazine, and she can tell you exactly what the fashion chains will be selling this Christmas. The styles were chosen last month, and by next month ten million sewing machines in the Far East will be turning them into reality so that they can be containered over to London in good time and at minimal expense. The same goes for next Christmas's toy fashions, which were selected in China back in April.

BJ

I am surprised to hear that styles for *this* Christmas were chosen last month. When I worked in retail the products for Christmas were chosen in the October of the year before, so a good 14m before the festive season they were supposed to be on sale for.

Mel

[bungeejumper]

I am surprised to hear that styles for *this* Christmas were chosen last month. When I worked in retail the products for Christmas were chosen in the October of the year before, so a good 14m before the festive season they were supposed to be on sale for.

Ah, but was that clothing? A bit more just-in-time these days, perhaps? Some actress in Game of Thrones appears with her bodice back to front and trimmed with bits of rope, and suddenly the world is slavering for knock-off copies.

A friend's daughter used to be a highly-revered designer for a high street chain, hopping between Hong Kong and Paris, until the awful champagne lifestyle caught up with her and she crashed. She used to say that the longest part of the whole process of getting a dress to market was in sourcing the fabric, which could take three weeks. (One moment nobody wants a fabric, and the next moment they want 200 miles of it delivered to Cambodia by next weekend.)

The actual manufacturing can happen in as little as a week, and then you've got to ship it. The designs themselves are stolen from the catwalks within 48 hours of being premiered. Pressure, pressure. You can see why the industry runs on cocaine.

BJ

[AleisterCrowley]

Sounds very exciting. The industry I'm in runs on tea.

[melonfool]

Sounds very exciting. The industry I'm in runs on tea.

We run on custard creams around here...

Mel

[NeilW]

We run on custard creams around here...

Doesn't that make a mess of the carpet?