'Tis the season.....

I didn't notice last year just how busy the shops opposite to where I live actually were on Christmas Eve. One is a general hardware store that sells Christmas decorations and yes of course it's busy but the shop next door is a pet store. So have a guess which one they were queueing to get in at 8.30 this morning and was 'non stop busy' for two hours...... Yes the pet shop! I've come back now and the shop is closed and the window is totally devoid of product! Every seasonal thing imaginable for your every pet has been bought and presumably will be wrapped for the spoilt pets of Neston!!

So I had the pleasure this year of sending two overseas packages from the same on line American retailer to two different American addresses. I guess I should alter that slightly as it is only a pleasure if they arrive at their destination which as of now because of time differences etc. we are not totally sure about! Anyway with the power of the internet I have been able through UPS to track their progress and I have to say, next year I may well package myself, put a bar code on me and send me somewhere with UPS. These parcels both small have had an absolute ball! They have both been to places that I as the #1 Americophile could only dream of! All the destinations and the times have been scanned - right down to the very last minute! Wow one of them was even at Dallas/Fort Worth airport for 4 hours, how cool is that? The other checked out of Columbus, Ohio at 6.47am, that's Christmassy cool too isn't it?

Buses should be larger for Christmas Eve as all the last minuters bags take up seats just for themselves! Yes it was one of those buses!! Guy on the very back seat taking up 2 and a bit seats, not bothered one little bit about how much space he was using, was opening up a box, the cardboard being discarded everywhere. Lots of tut tut tutting! All of a sudden he speaks very loudly... "Does anybody here know whether you have to charge these Macbooks up before you put them on?" Next minute two guys, one of them the biggest tut tut tutter were talking animatedly and there was an impromptu I.T. masterclass between the three people that had only been cruelly thrown together because of travelling on a over crowded Christmas Eve bus!