chrimbo radio times

I'm feeling pretty knackered today for some reason, so I thought I'd do a quick post about something completely random.

And that completely random something is the Christmas issue of Radio Times.

I've heard it said that for most people Christmas doesn't officially start until they see the Coca Cola add featuring Father Christmas and the trucks. Well for me, Christmas doesn't really start until I buy the Christmas issue of the Radio Times.

I actually buy RT every week as I'm a fan of television in general. I use it to help me plan what to watch and record, and I'm sufficiently anal as to be one of those people who circle the programs. Usually on Friday night I'll go through, highlighting the shows I'm already following and seeing if there's anything that peaks my interest.

My routine for the Chrimbo issue is almost identical. I'm expecting/hoping that it'll be on sale when I go into town today to drop my latest batch of washing off. I'll then scan through the articles while eating lunch and then Friday I'll plan out what I want to watch and record over Chrimbo.

Of course for those two weeks (if you've never seen it before the Chrimbo RT is a double issue that covers both the Christmas and New Year weeks) there'll be all sorts of specials and the schedules will be odd. Plus I'll be on holiday so there'll be more opportunity to catch some interesting things.

And that will be it - I'll officially be in festive mood.

Well, at least as festive as I'll get.

I have mixed feeling over Christmas.

First off I'm 100% atheist and, to be frank, the whole religious element actually gets on my nerves a bit. However, the thing about Christmas is it's essentially a winter feasting festival that was taken over by the organised religions, so I'm not totally against it.

The aspects I like are (predictably) the eating, the drinking and the relaxing, but also the spending a bit of time with your family and friends that you may not have seen in a while. The gift giving and receiving isn't bad too.

But, like most people, I get a bit sick of the saturation bombing that goes on. I'm very much on the side of people who complain about all the Christmas adverts. I caught an ad-break last week (so the first week in December) and every single ad was Christmas related.

I mean, it's not like we're going to forget about Christmas. We're well aware it's there and when it is, so the adverts are a bit excessive.

Although to be fair, the ads that really drive me bonkers are the post-Christmas sale ads, because they're fewer in number. At least before Christmas there's sufficient variety that you won't see the same ads over and over. But in that Sale period, every ad break will be identical, featuring the exact same 5 or six ads over-and-over, because the sales are much more restricted to certain types of businesses, like furniture stores or department stores.

Oops - got ranting and this post wasn't as short as I'd intended!