Two turkeys and a gallon of custard
The ordeal of Christmas
We know that any sort of shopping for essential food today is going to be one almighty ordeal as people of South Shields descend en masse on their favourite supermarkets to gather in bread, milk, tea bags, sugar, beer, lager, wines, spirits, Christmas puddings and custard. Car parking will be nigh impossible and three pound coins will be required (so it seems) by most to acquire sufficient trollies at the door, likewise body armour could well be appropriate protection as we are shoved, pushed, and manhandled down the aisles!
Patience will be sorely tested as you stand in lengthy queues at the checkouts, half ignoring the protestations of the children whilst trying to protect your ankles from the assaults of poorly aimed trolly wheels, the mind boggling at the amount of food and drink being purchased by the family in front of you (it is always more than you intended to buy isn’t it?) Before reaching the belt at the checkout you wonder just how much of that food will end up in the wheely bin before the end of the week, either wasted or out of date before it had a chance of being consumed, but the thoughts never occurred to you as you raced along the shelves in a haste to fill the second trolley! Justifying the expedition by reminding yourself that everyone in front of you is far more greedy than you will ever be, you ready yourself for an assault on the wallet, and a logistical exercise to get your load home and packed into cupboards. Then, of course, you will need a full tank of petrol before you make for home, after all the shops and garages will be closing for the Christmas holidays! (Yes, they will be open again in 48 hours or less.)
Spare a thought for those who do actually need all those items and the three trollies, there are some larger than normal 2.2 families around. Back in the 1960’s I played football in the back lanes between Frederick Street and John Williamson Street, South Shields with lads who had 18 brothers and sisters, somehow squeezed into a two up two down house! I shudder to think what Christmas day lunch was like for them.
The family Robinson were a very likeable bunch who always seemed to be doing things for each other, they all had small responsibilities and duties to perform to ensure that family cohesiveness was maintained, much like the Watson family featured in the Daily Mail today with their two turkeys and a gallon of custard! The picture shows them to be a very happy crowd held together by love and self belief, they may not enjoy much in the way of personal possessions or ostentatious wealth, much like the family Robinson, but they have a richness that many smaller families do not. For them Christmas is not an ordeal, it is a well honed exercise, organised down to the last bread roll and carefully counted Christmas cracker. Their food bill for the Christmas meal came to almost £500, it will be their one and only indulgence for the whole year, so celebrate with them as they enrich their family experience at Christmas!
Then sit back and think of the other families on other continents who will starve, perhaps disease ridden, and perhaps without work, land, crops, homes, or protection, possibly suffering the hardships of war, and having never seen a roast turkey in the entire life! Yet, still, they love each other, deeply and faithfully, as they face the most uncertain of futures.
As you stand waiting at the checkout queue, your eyes rolling over a mountain of food – I ask you, to think about them, and remember what a greedy bunch some of us are!
