Christmas is Here... Sort of...

What? Oh, yeah I know the Big Switch On is not until Thursday. But the Old George Mall have had their tree and lights up for a week already!

They went up last weekend... does anyone else find that a bit odd?

The shops have had decorations in for ages; BHS put their Christmas section in over a month ago, and Tesco have had their Christmas aisle all set up for weeks now. All of the big companies have now showcased their tastelessly expensive commercials during the ad breaks of X Factor. I'm well aware that Christmas starts some time around mid-September these days.

Don't get me wrong; I love Christmas. My tree will probably be up before you've finished reading this post. I am that irritating person with the tinsel in their hair in mid-November. I'm not complaining about the lights being up per se; my toddler loves all the lights and trees and we've already spent a lot of time walking around the Old George Mall ooooooohing and aaaaahhhhing at the decorations.

It just seems a little odd to make such a fuss over having that fella from Strictly come and switch Salisbury's lights on... when half of them are already on! He's a big name; the biggest we've had do the lights for a while. There seems to be a big buzz surrounding this Thursday evening's lights switch-on... were the people at the Old George Mall just too excited to wait? Or is the Old George Mall considered to be separate somehow, from the rest of the city?

All year round, things go on in Salisbury that don't seem terribly well co-ordinated. Because of the way the city is set out, you can have something going on in the market square, and people can come into town, do their shopping and leave without necessarily knowing about it. Ditto the Old George Mall or the Cross Keys. People and businesses seem to be polarised in many ways; they tend to work independently of each other rather than just coming together to work as a whole.

I really would have thought Christmas might be the one time people managed to work together though. With something as simple as switching on some lights, at least!

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here