WHAT TIME OF YEAR IS IT?

There they were, glaring at me as if I was in the wrong. Me, driving patiently home after a hard days graft and they had the audacity to make me feel uncomfortable. I mean really, you wouldn’t believe it if I told, but not a word of a lie there they were bold as brass staring through the window of Tafelberg Furnishers on Somerset Rd looking as though they were meant to be there all year round! The nerve! What on earth are bloody neon, blinking, electricity power, cheeky plastic Christmas decorations doing in a shop window IN MID OCTOBER!

I was so shocked when I saw them I almost crashed. Not a joke and most certainly very traumatic for the poor learner driver that I almost plowed into while my chin was on the floor and I thought I was in another time zone! Christmas Decoration in October. Has the world gone mad!?! Or maybe it’s just a Cape Town thing. I know we have a tendency to do things slightly differently than the rest of the Continent/World, but seriously… Christmas Decoration in October???

I actually heard a story the other day about a British gentleman who sent notes around to the relevant shops to formally warm them that should they feel the need to elaborately decorate their shop windows with Christmas paraphernalia before the required (and most importantly) appropriate time of year, there would be trouble. They had been warned. They did not listen. So true to his word he went around to all the offending retailers and filled their key holes with glue… Genius! What better way to teach the ragamuffins a lesson than by making them stand outside their own shop windows experiencing the pain and agony they were inflicting on the general public! I think this man deserves an award! Or a least a plane ticket to Cape Town so he can teach our retailers a lesson too!

Having said all of this, I drove home last night along Adderley Street and they were putting up the wire templates for the Adderley Street Christmas lights… SO EXCITED! Does that make me a hypocrite, or just a fan of twinkling pretty lights that make people smile vs. evil plastic Christmas decorations in shop windows that make children cry… hmmmm, tough one?