LEMMING DAYS..

The immortal words of Bart Simpson ring in my ears this morning, "Don`t you think it`s about time we remembered the true meaning of Santa`s birthday?"

A couple of days ago - may have been three - we thought we should go to the supermarket and get our stuff for Christmas. We tried one but couldn`t park anywhere. People were driving around, some just stationary, waiting in their cars for a parking space to become available. We gave up, tried another one and eventually got what we thought we needed for the festive season. Note the careful use of the words "we thought we needed" as I`m never sure we really need all the stuff we buy before Christmas as the shops seem to be closed just for the one day. It`s a form of mayhem panic buying, which seems to be repeated the day after Christmas as the sales begin.

I know about sales on Boxing Day. They are to be avoided as the same mayhem breaks out once more. Same parking troubles, same crowds, just different things to buy. Just different things we think we need. And yet we still do it, every year. It`s as if it`s obligatory to join the crowd, follow the herd and collectively, even if euphemistically, jump off the cliff into a sea of despond. Bart Simpson is right to remind us that, however misguided he may seem, there are other things in this yuletide life beyond the self-inflicted scrambles of before and after. It`s the bit in the middle that really matters.

And my good friend Wurzel was right too to remind me of the irony that, however much I may complain about the pre-Christmas shopping and the post-Christmas sales, if I trudge dutifully around them then I become one of the lemmings myself. We really should know better.