Long time In & Around contributor Atlantean takes a moment to reflect on the run-up to Christmas, and how the North East will be spending the next few months…

Well, Hallowe’en has past and we’re on our way to Christmas!

Advent calendars and Christmas cards are in the shops – the charity shops seem to lead the way with cards on sale from September. It’s that gradual move into winter where we lose three minutes off the end of every day, and – if you’re up – three minutes from the front too. That’s six minutes of daylight every day.

By the time we get to December 21st, it’s dark by 4.15pm, and I never cease to be amazed how wide the range is from shortest to longest day, when on June 21st it isn’t dark in the North East even at 10.45pm.

We observe the Armistice on November 11th and/or on the Remembrance Sunday which is nearest to it. All the more poignant in these current years, which are 100 years on from the horrors of the First World War (1914-18). At the time, it was known as the Great War, until the Second World War (1939-45) gave it a new label.

Sometimes the Lord Mayor’s Show in London falls on the same weekend, but this year the parade is on the 14th November. In Durham, we can look forward to the Lumiere produced by Artichoke, which takes place between Thursday 12th and Sunday 15th November. This has been a phenomenal success in recent years, and needs careful crowd direction and control to avoid a tragedy, especially around the river banks.

As it gets colder and darker, intrepid souls raise awareness of our homelessness situation, and the Bishop of Jarrow is promoting an event at Sunderland Minster on 4th December. It’s a sleep-out, and I note the charity Changing Lives, which used to be known as the Cyrenians, is also having a sleep-out for senior executives on 3rd March.

But for most of us, it’s a time for parties and a time of good will to all men (and women).

I used to have a toy racing circuit in which a car would race around a track, and pass on each circuit through a black tunnel where a mechanism would spring the car into increased speed. That’s the way I often feel about the year as a whole: it races by and we barely have time to draw breath before it’s downhill to Christmas. We enter the tunnel and we’re catapulted out the other side to continue the journey at an even faster pace.

Sometimes, I prefer to slow down, have a think, and consider those people who aren’t as fortunate as us. I’m concerned to learn that there are so many older people living on their own. Whereas I know I have about ten emails to send out on a Sunday, supposedly a day of rest, there are others of who don’t know how to send one and have no contacts to do so.

Don’t get carried away with your shopping this Christmas, and keep an eye on the prices. When I was in Scotland over the summer, I came across Irn Bru in a restaurant and asked whether there was such a thing as Diet Irn Bru. There is! And very tasty it is too. Our local small general store sells large bottles of sugar free Irn Bru for only 99p. On a visit to Tesco I noticed that their Brand Guarantee price applies to the same product – which they sell at £1.70. They compare prices with Asda, Morrisons and Sainsburys, but not with my little shop over the road.

My wife noticed something similar with large packs of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate, which were £3.50 in Tesco with the Brand Guarantee, but that she bought for £2.50 from our local Post Office and minimart when making some cakes, all of which makes me highly suspicious about supermarket pricing in this supposed season of goodwill.

So what do you think is the real meaning of Christmas? Send your answers to atlantean247@yahoo.co.uk, or leave a comment below.

Atlantean