Gnaw wee chunion

I'm off to Norwich tomorrow for a spot of Xmas shopping and general carousing.  It's a splendifferous town, Norwich, full of interesting independent shops, fabulous cosy old-school pubs and nice people.  I remember going there to see Orient play The Canaries in the 3rd round of the FA Cup some years ago.  I was struck by what a lovely family club it was.  The ground is modern and walking distance from the centre of town.  And the Norwich faithful all turn up in family groups.  It was more like an American sporting event than an English football match, and was none the worse for this.  If I lived there, I'd go to much more football than I do currently.

I think also the weather's supposed to be good this weekend.  East Anglia in general, and Norwich in particular really reach escape velocity in the cold winter sunshine.  I cannot think of anywhere I'd rather be at this time of year when it's like this - the low countries perhaps.  This makes sense of course as East Anglia and the LCs are of a piece - one land, three countries.

I do hope all this Black Friday bullshit has died down by the time we arrive there tomorrow.  How this previously exclusively American phenomenon has gained a foothold in the U of K is a mystery to me.  It makes precisely no sense here.  In the States, Thanksgiving heralds the traditional beginning of the run-in to Christmas.  People rush to be with their loved ones and eat turkey.  It's also a public holiday, so many choose to take the Friday off too as they're usually not at home.  It's sensible, therefore, for American retailers to begin their Christmas marketing campaigns on this day - loads of people with a day off, all feeling Christmassy.  Now, we don't have Thanksgiving here, as you're probably aware...well, you can see where I'm going with this I'm sure.

What's particularly galling about all this is the bovine acceptance of this "trend" by Britons.  "Woo hoo!  It's Black Friday."  That's right - it is Black Friday...in Ohio.