Funny isn’t it. While the clergy, meteorologists, historians and astrologers will all argue for years over exactly when Christmas should be and when we should officially begin celebrations, you need go no further than any one born within the last 30 years to find out that Christmas officially starts when you first hear/see the Coke advert. When the choral strains of ‘Holidays are coming’ ring out and the Coke lorry drives through the night lighting up the streets and children’s faces alike, that’s when Christmas truly begins. The town centres can put up their lights, the shops can fill their shelves with cards, festive wrapping paper and every type of coloured, twinkling light you can dream of, but Christmas begins with the Coke ad, not a moment before and not a moment later. And the best thing? The best thing is that Coke never seem to be too early about it. You don’t see the advert in September, or October. You don’t even see it in November. No, the Coke advert and Christmas true, doesn’t appear until well into December and I’m glad.
It’s funny how social groups develop their own unique ways of acknowledging change. Take Winter for example. Astrologers will tell you that Winter is January, February and March and therefore begins on the 1st of Jan. Conservationists will tell you that Winter is the period between the trees fully shedding their leaves and beginning to bud again. Homeowners will tell you that it’s to do with the temperature and it’s the period of the year that we need to have the central heating on. For me it’s not so clearly defined. I know when it starts, but when it ends seems to be somewhat of a blur.
For me Winter starts every year at around this time – November/December – and in fact this year it started this morning. For me the Winter misery is heralded by the wonders of London Transport. Unlike the Coke advert that heralds Christmas, the sound that signals the start of Winter is far from exciting. It begins with a strange muttering sound as soon as you enter the station. This then builds as you arrive down on the concourse only to find ten times the normal weight of commuters staring up at the information screen in disbelief. Just then, as your eyes begin to register the details being scrolled past the screen, the station speakers chime with the morning’s first insincere apology… I suspect it could be the first of many. Slowly over the next few minutes, you hear one by one as the morning’s trains are cancelled because they’ve suffered an ‘un-repairable malfunction’, have encountered anything from ‘adverse weather conditions’, to ‘the wrong type of leaves’ and even because they have ‘the wrong type of carriages’ (I have actually heard that before). But it’s ok, cause the operator is ‘Sorry for the delay that it may cause to your journey’… Rubbish!
I honestly don’t understand what the problem is. Every other country I have ever visited manage to operate a decent public transport system. They cope with temperatures up to 40 degrees and down to -30 and yet they still run, in some cases (such as New York) even despite experiencing both extremes. In Switzerland there is public outcry if a train is so much as 1 minute late. So why, when we pay more for our tickets than anybody else, do we have to suffer such poor service (or total lack there of), when we never experience any truly extreme conditions. We don’t get temperatures much above 35 degrees and we never get anything more than 30cm of snow, yet even a slightly damp morning can bring the system crumbling to it’s knees.
Anyway it’s now official that Winter is upon us and it will be here for a while. It will get colder. It will get wetter and the rail service will continue to degenerate until it gets to the point where if you really need to be in the office on time, you will need to stay in a hotel near-by. But when does Winter end? It can’t be Easter cause the Cream Eggs will be in shops from January, so what is the sign? For me I don’t know. All I know is that winter ends the day that Alex T can no longer go skiing… which, if he were given his say, would be never!
Stay Groovy all and I’ll no doubt see many of you on the station concourse!
DG.xx