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Post by jno on Dec 18, 2019 15:14:37 GMT
WOOHOO .... it's December! and that means it's time to get into the Christmas spirit!  What's that you say? You don't like Christmas? Why not? Here's your chance to tell us! So, settle in, if you have Sky in the UK, download a nice Christmas scene to your Sky box(!) and choose your top ten reasons why you hate Christmas.
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 18, 2019 16:37:40 GMT
I checked "Songs about Christmas are way too overplayed" but what could have been there is people who say Chrimbo that's just... just... NOOOOOO!!!!
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Post by thecraftyleek on Dec 18, 2019 17:52:46 GMT
That’s my 10 done.
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Post by daz on Dec 18, 2019 18:02:56 GMT
I've run out of choices, can I have the 13 missing choices from people who have already voted?  I am the Grinch come Scrooge rolled into one and it ain't getting any better with age. Mad Friday last week at work and I didn't go, Xmas Jumper day at work and I didn't take part, Xmas dinner at work and I didn't take part, decorations all around the office apart from near my desk. The whole thing just grates me. Don't get me wrong I don't go around spouting 'humbug' to one and all, but I do like being left out of all the Xmas shyte. I don't mind Xmas itself as such, even though I am not religous at all and don't partake in that kind of nonsense, but being kind/respectful to one and all should be done everyday not just one day a year and I don't say that in any sort of religous/preachy way. I mean the Sally Army are on TV about people being homeless for Xmas, but why is it just highlighted at Xmas and not the rest of the year? |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Dec 18, 2019 18:56:39 GMT
I voted. There was the ‘other’ that I didn’t choose coz I ran out. However... 1) Idiots at work obsessed with Christmas jumpers. 2) Children singing (this applies to all year round but is a foul practice which one finds to be particularly prevalent near Christmas). 3) Idiots that don’t know how to drink that pack the pubs at Christmas and then get completely p*ssed and behave like total b*llsacks! 4) Having to tidy the whole Hall up properly, ready for the orphans. 5) The amount of money I spend, for instance today I gave my barber £20 for a haircut - normally I wouldn’t do this it would be £9 but I followed it with ‘You and Sarah (his Mrs) have a pint on me.’ 6) Mulled wine. Don’t get me wrong, any port in a storm and I will drink it instead of sobriety, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. 7) Most Christmas movies that are not concerned with having a horror theme. 8) People that try to control you by declaring some made up family tradition bullsh*t - e.g. I once had a non-smoker for a girlfriend who tried to stop me from smoking during Christmas dinner (I only wanted to get up once after the main meal and go outside to smoke my pipe before dessert came )because apparently ‘it was a family tradition that no one left the table until after everyone had finished all courses.’ - ‘Thats funny’, I said, ‘I don’t remember that tradition being upheld last year, or the year before..’ I then followed it by remarking ‘Oh, yes, actually now we’re discussing family traditions that reminds me, tomorrow when you all come over to mine for Boxing Day, just to let you know it’s a family tradition in my house that everyone has to chain smoke throughout the meal. Note this rule also applies to non smokers. Or, this year, we could always just call a truce on all family traditions, up to you?’ |
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 18, 2019 23:17:02 GMT
Yes!  Me too. One exception might be that vocal on XTC's "Dear God" which for years I assumed was a boy but turns out it's a girl, oh and I love Paul Miles-kingston with Sarah Brightman singing Pie Jesu on Lloyd-Webber's Requiem - spine-chillingly beautiful that is but overall, children singing isn't for me. Take Sing by The Carpenters for example. Not a bad song on the Singles '69-'73 masterpiece but soon as the children start singing "la-la-la-la-lah at the end well, that is the reason I skip the track! |
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 18, 2019 23:22:23 GMT
Idiots that don’t know how to drink that pack the pubs and then get completely p*ssed and behave like total b*llsacks! Yeah I've been to Millwall. Tell you what, Christmas decorations can be hazardous too. Our youngest swallowed some and went down with tinselitis. |
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Post by McCann on Dec 19, 2019 0:26:01 GMT
Christmas in November or earlier is my choice.
But also, if you have a really busy time at work leading up to Christmas, and many folk do, this whole trend of Christmas being practically over on Christmas day is a real downer. A day or two of rest, and you are really ready to enjoy yourself by the 26th/27th and some idiots are practically taking down the decorations because 'Christmas is over'.
Christmas used to only begin on Christmas Eve. It should run up to 6th January, and there should be loads to do/concerts etc. while many people are off until 4/5/6th January.
In recent years I've seen Madness and Bad Manners over 29-31st December and they are perfect upbeat shows for a big booze up and a laugh at this time of year. After a few days indoors so many people are mad for it.
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Post by jno on Dec 19, 2019 4:18:32 GMT
Where I am, shops really DO shut for Christmas, even the Christmas markets. This year we had Greg "in love with myself" Wallace in Vienna (it was on Channel 5 the other night, him doing his usual cockney geezer "laaaaaaavley" doesn't seem best suited in Vienna's Christmas market).  If Christmas Eve falls on a Thursday, it has been known in Austria that shops shut down for up to 3.5 days (Thu = half day close, Fri = 25th, Sat = 26th, Sun = 27th) as Sunday everything is closed anyway. That requires a little bit of planning in terms of milk for me cups'a'tea. What's nice where I am is that we do not get the post Christmas sales like in the UK. There's nothing like that here so the town idiocy has pretty much ended by Christmas Eve. In the UK it's madness all the way till around Jan 6th! One thing Austrians like to do over Christmas is bake. They love making biscuits/cookies (Weihnachtskekse) and all sorts of sweet delicacies AND they love giving them to you for free because they were overzealous in their production. Jeeeez, this has already started where I am and I'm sick to death of them giving me biscuits because they made too many (they always do, every ducking Christmas, I get given boxes of biscuits by my neighbour "because I made a few too many so have a few"). I mean, ok, it's the though that counts but jeez, spare a thought for me getting sick of 'em too! I can't see another 'Vanillakipferl' and it's not even Christmas Eve yet ... Then we have 'Auld Lang Syne', arguably the most dreary number I'm forced to sing. Jeez, I can't stand it and would rather go to bed. I hate going to the UK over New Year as someone always says "ah we better sing it" ... to which I think WHY? as I'd honestly rather just scratch my bum than force myself to try and get jolly by singing that song. At what other time of the year are people expected to sing? Never - thus, I rest my case! Do folks sing 'Auld Lang Syne' in Ireland? |
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Post by jno on Dec 19, 2019 4:49:28 GMT
Christmas Ham ... what a totally stupid idea. Let's take the word ham, and shove the word Christmas in front of it and people think "oooh, that's Christmasy". Ham is ham. Do we have Birthday ham, February ham, Monday ham or Summer ham? What is Christmas ham anyway, ham with more salt? Ham with some extra stuff on top of it? Was the pig slaughtered on 25th December? Gawd knows ... at the end of the day, ham is ham and we shouldn't be putting preceding it with adjectives of time to make it sound tastier.  Rant over.
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Post by jno on Dec 19, 2019 6:51:00 GMT
ONE MORE reason not to like Christmas ...  |
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 19, 2019 6:54:14 GMT
Is it Paddy off Emmerdale?
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Post by Arch Stanton on Dec 19, 2019 7:30:01 GMT
Is it Paddy off Emmerdale? Is it Richard Briers? |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Dec 19, 2019 7:44:21 GMT
I think shops should shut from Christmas Eve till New Year.
Emergency services should work.
Maybe a supermarket with reduced hours like 5 hours trading, a chemist, transport, pubs apart from that any retail shop should not be trading.
Most people who work should be allowed some bloody time off with their families.
These damn sales, where the same rubbish offers are regurgitated, people queuing round the block because the Next sale opens at 1 minute past 12 on Boxing Day morning. WTF! What happened to January sales?
Just give it a rest. There’s just no need. If employers make staff work that period then they should be on quadruple time.
Why doesn’t the world just close down?
Allow everyone a break.
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Post by McCann on Dec 19, 2019 11:26:13 GMT
Yes shops should close for 3 days. An argument is for people to avoid shops over this period and they will get the message and not open. But studies of Sunday opening hours here found that shops didn't take any more in when they opened for both days over the weekend, compared to just Saturday, so it's not necessarily the shops driving it, it's the fear that once one shop opens, everyone must follow suit. And it supposedly spreads the footfall out over a longer timeframe. Auld Lang Syne would be played at midnight on New Years Eve in Ireland, but as far as I know it wouldn't be sung widely. In general on the continent they seem to be much better at allowing Christmas to run fully up to 6th January. Much prefer that to this merging of Christmas and 'Black Friday' that's come in here over the last decade.  |
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Post by daz on Dec 19, 2019 12:34:35 GMT
I noticed we are missing an option to moan about website/forum owners who use their IT skills to change what pops up on your email notications to 'Ho Ho Ho Merry Xmas' Ba Humbug! |
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Post by daz on Dec 19, 2019 12:37:15 GMT
jno - I prefer the use of Xmas, as Christmas is a more religous term and I don't believe in it, so try not to use it.
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Post by jno on Dec 19, 2019 12:42:26 GMT
I noticed we are missing an option to moan about website/forum owners who use their IT skills to change what pops up on your email notications to 'Ho Ho Ho Merry Xmas' Ba Humbug! Moan Counter = 1 jno - I prefer the use of Xmas, as Christmas is a more religous term and I don't believe in it, so try not to use it. Moan Counter = 2 Thank goodness it's the season of goodwill. |
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Post by Arch Stanton on Dec 19, 2019 15:00:12 GMT
The self service tills in Poundland - I meant to put that as a hate.
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 19, 2019 17:56:46 GMT
Is it Paddy off Emmerdale? Is it Richard Briers? Kind of looks like that chef geezer Heston Blooming Phal... or maybe not, just checked, nothing like him... |
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Post by jno on Dec 19, 2019 18:26:20 GMT
The self service tills in Poundland. Oh yes, Santa the cheapskate. |
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Post by westldner on Dec 20, 2019 1:15:37 GMT
I selected my top 10 but I selected other, so I'll explain, it's how folk I know use the Christmas as a distraction to get away from a situation. The Iron Curtain tactic. I mean I understand the Berlin Wall was around then and it's been knocked down but just because the Berlin Wall is down doesn't mean I can't use the term Iron Curtain towards the folks who don't want to be around me or want me to know that I'm being taken advantage off, so they try to get me down to hand them freebies or what not and use the season to think that I should be giving more then excess, then I need to. The next thing I know, they're behind the Iron Curtain. Even as I explain it, like politics which ruins folks Christmas, makes me a target like I'm ruining it. Christmas is every year, so I really prep up a lot, just to get people away and I stay away from a lot of people because of this. Just hi and bye and that's it.
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Post by jno on Dec 20, 2019 4:09:39 GMT
Poundland Christmas tills .... Ho ho ho! In Wales they apparently had the voice of Elvis Presley on the self checkout tills. Are we getting Arch his Christmas present in Poundland? Is it a Twin Peaks bar? |
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Post by jno on Dec 21, 2019 3:09:43 GMT
If I could have another option I'd add people saying "Have a good one!"
Whenever I hear that I think "What? A good what? Cuppa tea? Trip? A good night's rest? Poo?" ... it's an utterly silly phrase if you ask me, if you can say "one" you can say "day", "holiday" or more relevantly "Christmas" for goodness sake.
Bah humbug!
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Post by Arch Stanton on Dec 21, 2019 7:34:02 GMT
I selected my top 10 but I selected other, so I'll explain, it's how folk I know use the Christmas as a distraction to get away from a situation. The Iron Curtain tactic. I mean I understand the Berlin Wall was around then and it's been knocked down but just because the Berlin Wall is down doesn't mean I can't use the term Iron Curtain towards the folks who don't want to be around me or want me to know that I'm being taken advantage off, so they try to get me down to hand them freebies or what not and use the season to think that I should be giving more then excess, then I need to. The next thing I know, they're behind the Iron Curtain. Even as I explain it, like politics which ruins folks Christmas, makes me a target like I'm ruining it. Christmas is every year, so I really prep up a lot, just to get people away and I stay away from a lot of people because of this. Just hi and bye and that's it. I’m glad you chose other and then explained your choice, I’d have been completely lost if you hadn’t. 1) Wait, what’s an Iron Curtain tactic? 2) Who’s taking advantage of you Westy? Show me on the Santa puppet where the bad people touched you. 3) Have you been on the mulled mushrooms again? If you think people are taking advantage you need to play Death Match 109 Giver Vs Taker.  |
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Post by jno on Dec 21, 2019 9:22:41 GMT
It's Christmaaaaas!  |
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Post by Shot By Both Sides on Dec 21, 2019 22:41:00 GMT
When I first saw the avatar I thought... okay, he's going through the change but now I've joined in with the darts I know it's Fallon Sherrock!
She beat Sulovic tonight and I am following her on Twitter.
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Post by westldner on Dec 22, 2019 18:47:07 GMT
I selected my top 10 but I selected other, so I'll explain, it's how folk I know use the Christmas as a distraction to get away from a situation. The Iron Curtain tactic. I mean I understand the Berlin Wall was around then and it's been knocked down but just because the Berlin Wall is down doesn't mean I can't use the term Iron Curtain towards the folks who don't want to be around me or want me to know that I'm being taken advantage off, so they try to get me down to hand them freebies or what not and use the season to think that I should be giving more then excess, then I need to. The next thing I know, they're behind the Iron Curtain. Even as I explain it, like politics which ruins folks Christmas, makes me a target like I'm ruining it. Christmas is every year, so I really prep up a lot, just to get people away and I stay away from a lot of people because of this. Just hi and bye and that's it. I’m glad you chose other and then explained your choice, I’d have been completely lost if you hadn’t. 1) Wait, what’s an Iron Curtain tactic? 2) Who’s taking advantage of you Westy? Show me on the Santa puppet where the bad people touched you. 3) Have you been on the mulled mushrooms again? If you think people are taking advantage you need to play Death Match 109 Giver Vs Taker. 1) Folks who have the Iron Curtain mentally. I have a lot of them here in London. I mean my condolences on the folks who were in the Eastern bloc and how it affected them when the wall was up in Berlin and maybe it was a big deal how it was knocked down but then people don't want to talk about how that's affected them. Missed opportunity there. I mean if people want to discuss who place to host a Christmas dinner over whos, then they should talk about it, but some don't, from what goes in my part of the country. 2) Folks in London. A city with a population of millions, Among those millions are people don't feel like they have the time to explain how they feel, considering some of them were from the Eastern bloc, I get it but I prefer if they don't resort to that and maybe they should figure it out themselves. *Points to puppet Santa's forehead* The mind, the mind is where they've touched me. They're using telekinesis. Use the energy of the Christmas and the happiness that no one wants to destroy as a temp wall over the old Berlin Wall. Just shows how people who really miss that wall. 3) ... I'll take a look at the Giver and Taker thread. |
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Post by bensonrad on Dec 30, 2019 9:22:47 GMT
I do like Xmas, but find the whole over commercial'ness and wastefulness too much. All the online shops blitzing me with their fake sales for months and bloody Black Friday, something that's not even british rammed down our throats again with fake sales.
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Post by pr1 on Jan 2, 2020 6:35:41 GMT
Working in Retail for years ruined Christmas for me.
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