Really am a grumpy old man....

I need help, it is Christmas and I should be full of ho ho ho and jollyness but some things are just doing my head in.

It was all compounded by taking a trip to the late night shopping and Christmas lights in Truro tonight, lets start with M&S. They wanted £58 for a frozen turkey crown, What the hell was the thing hand reared by royalty or blessed by the Pope. I don't even like Turkey, we would never buy it normally, its a joke. I wouldn't mind but there are two of us and it feeds 8 to 10 people. Ok two more are coming for Christmas lunch but it feels like we will be eating the stuff until 2022. We managed to spend over £150 on bits of food, what exactly I am not sure but are they taking the xxxxxx or what. That turkey is still available to the first mug willing to pay that much.

That off my chest, out of the shop and into the street. People, where did it all go wrong, what happened to standards, herds of teenagers wandering around in shops, no masks, no respect and staff taking no notice whatever. Get to the checkout and greeted with "Alright mate".... I am not your bleddy mate, the chap behind me, clearly the worse for something, ramming me in the legs with his walking frame without apology. The rotund ( OK I will say it FAT) greasy haired girl swigging cola from a bottle as she just walks straight in to me as if I am a ghost, then just carries on as though nothing had happened.

Truro isn't even a big City so goodness knows how I would cope in London but how I hate crowds and just the way 90% of people seem to behave these days. Just leave me surrounded by sheep and cauliflowers or bears and cougars and I will be quite happy.

Now lets finally turn to Christmas music, not the traditional carols but if I hear George Michael sing " Last Christmas I gave you my heart" one more time I will scream. What is wrong with "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" or " I feel my ..... tingling, ........ are jingling too". Lets have something different for a change. Obviously the Pogues are exempt from this comment.

I could go on all night but there you have it, I confess I am a miserable old butthead and I am not sorry about it.

I do feel much better having shared it with my friends I have here though.... or maybe now used to have!  

Stay safe.
'hog

Oh, dear, Hog. I feel your pain.

By contrast, I visited Asda in St Austell where, although quite busy, it wasn’t crowded and nobody tried to run me down. The shelves were well stocked and Seasonal Goodies were aplenty, including turkey crowns at reasonable prices.

I have to agree about the incessant 'music’ over the tannoy, though, and I can recommend using the volume control on hearing aids.

We escaped quickly, thanks to using the hand held self scanner and left with a full trolley and a wallet lighter to the tune of £60.

Have a good Christmas. 

What a wonderful forum this is, thanks I feel so much better already.
Coming through St Awful tomorrow TW, have to go to Trago Liskeard to find some carpet!
As you sip your eggnog this year here is a little christmas song to share, if the link works that is!
[url=youtube.com/watch??v=MglwLeASnkw]youtube.com/watch??v=MglwLeASnkw[/url]


Looks like it didn't!-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIwLeASnkw&list=RDMgIwLeASnkw&index=1

People... the bane of my life, well crowds of them are..
I've always suffered from mild panic when I find myself in close proximity to hoards of strangers, so this pandemic and the requirement to keep my distance is no hardship to me.
I watched in horror a news clip of Christmas shoppers on Oxford Street the other day, I swear folk in that crowd would be carried along even if they lifted their feet off the pavement!
It's been 25 years or so since I last entered a shopping precinct, Meadowhall in Sheffield, never again. My idea of hell.
Almost all shopping for me these days is either done online or at open markets.
Al.

Fabulous video, Hog.

Good luck at Trago. I don’t envy you that one 

I am on the wrong side of a retail counter at this time of year and you would be amazed at the questions we long-suffering staff are asked.
I have to check people's type of door when they buy over-door wreath hangers as PVC doors have a seal all around and this type of hanger will not fit.
My question to a customer today was," What type of door do you have"?
The reply was..."A front one".
I hope Santa has a big bottle whisky for me this year!

I don't want to steal GHs thunder but my experience is that tolerance disappears in direct relation to the aging process 

GH, you are not alone. I love Christmas day but hate the scrum that is the run up to the big day, used to be a couple of weeks but now seems to start sometime in September. Just cleared the freezer of last years Turkey leftovers, needed to make room for this years stuff 

Just as Askit says the older you get so the problem gets worse. As to alienating my fellow man the older I get the less I give a......!

I'm afraid Tony's right, a graph of tolerance v age is a steep curve.
There was a TV programme on the other day dedicated to charting the origin of traditional Christmas hymns. A young mother was asked which was her favourite hymn. She replied 'Jingle Bells'.... A few years ago I would have let this go, but on this occasion my wife had to restrain me from throwing a book at the TV set...
Al.

I don't think you're the exception Hog, it's an age thing!

There are ways around it though, or at least pre planning, I already do this......

You know you're following an old person out of a shop or supermarket, when for no apparent reason they stop in the narrowest part of the doorway. Now, not wishing to be ageist here, I'm 70 now so qualified I think, but its always old people and usually not male!!!

So I got to thinking, how can I prepare myself so I don't do this when I'm older?? Took a bit of work but finally got it, I needed a GAUGE!

A friend of mine is always round about 2 yrs older than me and we have near identical backgrounds etc, BUT he is 2 yrs older. So now he is my GAUGE, he is obliged to report to me when he finds himself doing such things and to let me know the date, so we can work out a plan of forewarning for me!!! 

He absolutely hates this BTW which makes it even more fun! His first report was when he found his slippers in the fridge, worryingly he was only 69 then!

Another grumpy one but someone a bit younger, 50's or so. He's a real geek, dictionary definition!  He was working away from home, often does as a contractor, and using trains to commute, 2 or more hours. So he always booked a table seat in a quiet carriage, so he could work away on this laptop and use the time wisely.

Virtually always, he would have some mong sitting right under the big telephone with a red line  on it sign and then, noisily and annoyingly use his phone. So, ***** not real name, designed a solution. It is a jammer and not only ceased all phone calls in that carriage but prevents other too!! This gave him great fun and thoroughly p*sed off the miscreants, double whammy!

I've asked him to make me one, slightly different, which silences ALL XMAS "MUSIC" in supermarkets, you know the kind which starts in October and lasts till January!!

So, Hog, you're in good company, especially reading the other replies to your post

You miserable old lot!! 
I’ve got Heart Xmas streaming on the Sonus while wrapping a few presents and I’m loving it, especially when Last Xmas just came on (sorry Hog) followed by my favourite, driving home for Xmas 

Dbvwt wrote:You miserable old lot!! 
I’ve got Heart Xmas streaming on the Sonus while wrapping a few presents and I’m loving it, especially when Last Xmas just came on (sorry Hog) followed by my favourite, driving home for Xmas 

Aiming for prime miserable git here!
Favourite day. Boxing day, 364 days then till the next one!!!

Worse still on freesat 178, is never ending Christmas Hits Non-stop!!
Happy Xmas anyway Dave.!!!!

Normally a Classic FM listener, just about tolerate the ads although I would cheerfully strangle Philip Schofield.

ATM generally lasts about 10 minutes before something Christmas comes on then off it goes. I don't think "good" Christmas music exists.

Petroc Trelawny, never heard of him but should have he grew up just down the road from us, went to school in Helston it seems. favourite radio stations are Pirate FM down here in Cornwall and when in Nanaimo it is Jack FM. Great thing these days is you can get them on line anywhere in the World of course. Anyway, back to being grumpy...

Bobskate wrote:

groundhog wrote:Anyway, back to being grumpy...

I’ve just fallen in. This being grumpy is just a ploy so that with your reputation you  will find nobody pitching either side of you….however full the site! More space to spread out……

No need to be grumpy to get nobody pitching either side, just have a van conversion with a sliding door, like Bobskate and us, and nobody wants to be next to that slamming noise. Even if you have a quiet door, the perception is enough to make others steer clear.

Listen, I was a Salesman for Mr Kipling Cakes for 27 years and have earnt the rite to be grumpy at Christmas. We had used to enjoy our day off over the festive period though. 

Might as well go camping just wasted £4,50 on the TV times to see what's on over the holidays, what a load of rubbish.
Apart from a few bright spots shan't be bothering to turn the TV on. Thank heavens for amazon prime and my flight simulator.
Bah humbug

Thanks for the heads up GH, I will put my £4.50 to better use and use the electronic guide for telly.

After years as an apprentice carmudgeon I feel I have also earned the right to be grumpy, need to have some pleasure in life.