Thursday, December 25, 2008
Trees
Today being the day it is, I ought to report on the state of our Christmas tree, in our case a gift from Homebase, from FIL, a year or so ago. A very fine spruce of some description with real fir cones. Very nifty construction; a fine example of the Christmas tree art. Only let down by a slightly improper shape; a little tall for its height and a bit too bushy for the top foot out of its five. Although the maker might argue that the tip of a Christmas tree should be more bushy than the body. Our is also more regular than an organic tree, with branches arranged around their nodes in regular sixes; but in this case I don't think the effect would be improved by irregularity. There is not enough space for that to look anything other than contrived.
To think that in the olden days one used to have organic trees, which I suspect burn better than their inorganic cousins, decorated with real candles with real flames, rather than the electrical ones one has these days. Maybe the use of real candles now counts as conspiracy to arson. If not some grander sounding count. Something that the neigbourhood watch people ought to keep an eye out for.
Also a day for moralising. When I was little, we used to talk about the terrible contradictions inherent in capitalism. Now with capitalism having a touch of flu, maybe appropriate to revive that sort of talk. So, for example, while I believe that a good part of our current trouble is down to excess consumption in the UK and the US, we are now being exhorted to dig ourselves out of the hole by spending more. Another part is down to bankers having lent money to people they should not and securitising things they should not have; they are now being exhorted to dig us out of the hole by lending more.
But such moralising is not permitted of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I seem to recall something about PM Brown adminstering a stern rebuke to said prelate when he presumed to meddle in affairs of state. I suppose he is supposed to restrict his moralising to clerical rather than secular matters - whatever that might be supposed to mean in this confusing age.
To think that in the olden days one used to have organic trees, which I suspect burn better than their inorganic cousins, decorated with real candles with real flames, rather than the electrical ones one has these days. Maybe the use of real candles now counts as conspiracy to arson. If not some grander sounding count. Something that the neigbourhood watch people ought to keep an eye out for.
Also a day for moralising. When I was little, we used to talk about the terrible contradictions inherent in capitalism. Now with capitalism having a touch of flu, maybe appropriate to revive that sort of talk. So, for example, while I believe that a good part of our current trouble is down to excess consumption in the UK and the US, we are now being exhorted to dig ourselves out of the hole by spending more. Another part is down to bankers having lent money to people they should not and securitising things they should not have; they are now being exhorted to dig us out of the hole by lending more.
But such moralising is not permitted of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I seem to recall something about PM Brown adminstering a stern rebuke to said prelate when he presumed to meddle in affairs of state. I suppose he is supposed to restrict his moralising to clerical rather than secular matters - whatever that might be supposed to mean in this confusing age.
# posted by Jim @ 2:49 AM 
