Dear LPG

I have always believed in getting Christmas sorted early; after all, we all now expect the shops to introduce the first of the Christmas cards, trees and lights to their shelves well before Halloween these days.  For them it is one of their best opportunities to capitalise on getting money out of us. 

There are the children to buy for and those forty and fifty-somethings are particularly difficult to find a present for because they have everything that they want.  Everyone now treats those things that we older citizens would have thought belonged on our luxury lists, when we were their age, as necessities and ’have to have’ items, leaving little for the present buyer to choose from. 

Then there is the even bigger question of what to get the children for Christmas.  I recently read online that Argos have already sorted out what will be the top toys this year (discounting computer games), and with all the anticipation that ‘Frozen 2’ will offer little girls and the absence of a really big 2019 children’s film the classic designed for boys, the ‘Toy story’ and ‘Harry Potter’ spin off toys have been reinvented together with a few others. 

I have to say that I found it quite worrying to realise that the average present for a grandchild cost about £65.00 two years ago in 2017. That article also mentioned that on average, grandparents have three grandchildren to worry about.  I have five, but in spite of that and my calculations I know I won’t be able to afford anything near the £39.00 per child that would allow me the same budget.

Finally, there is the problem of what to do with the presents that we receive each year.  As we get older they tend to be ornaments and, I am not sure about all pensioners, but just like the shop shelves, my shelves are bursting at the seams and getting harder and harder to dust.  

So perhaps this is an appeal for the younger ones to find something else this Christmas because, just like the shops, although for completely different reasons, we elders also crave emptier shelves.

CS, Southwark

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