I have a habit of stating the obvious sometimes so bear with me. Personally I’m not too fond of December. I have too many bad memories tied to this month and always go into a mood decline when this month starts. There’s a lot to be said about memory triggers. I get angry when I see drunkards staggering all over the place, it annoys me no end when I hear of bad road accidents because of drinking and driving and the fights that break out just because one has had one too many are another reason for me to curl my lip in disgust.

I’m not going to turn into Scrooge but I’m also not about to get into a festive holiday mood because I know as soon as I try and turn things around with a positive outlook something or the other is bound to happen.

I’ve been avoiding shopping malls like the plague. I shopped in November like there was going to be rationing and tend to get my daily essentials like milk and bread from the fuel station that I pass on my way home. The shopping malls get crowded with people and when you’re at your local supermarket you’re standing there with just your milk and bread in the queue that says ’10 items or less’ right behind the woman who has at least forty seven items in her trolley, you kind of lose the Christmas spirit. The cashier is too polite to say anything but I’m getting irritated as she searches her wallet for her smart card to get bonus points, then slowly starts unloading her trolley which compels me to do my ‘good deed of the day’ by helping her unload faster so I can get on with my milk and bread and get out of here.

But no! She eyes me suspiciously and protectively marks her territory with her arm and I’m left seething there hoping that the big tray of eggs she’s trying to put into a paper bag turns into a frittata ingredient by the time she reaches home. Then she seems to have picked something off the aisles that doesn’t seem to have a code so an assistant is summoned to go do the needful. It’s getting crowded and I’m impatient and suddenly some idiot who had baked beans for lunch lets out a silent killer that has me choking back the contents of my lunch.

See? It’s not me. It’s the people who bring the worst out in me so I tend to stay away. The automated Santas and lights look lovely but after a while they annoy me for some reason. Actually I know the reason – it’s just basic memory triggers that transport me into a time I would rather forget. Hopefully one day I will overcome it but for now, for goodness sake, if you have more than bloody ten items in your trolley can you PLEASE not come in the way of my milk and bread?

Now that I have vented, enjoy your countdown to Christmas, have fun opening the windows on your advent calendars and popping the chocolates into your mouth first thing in the morning without brushing your teeth, revel in the festivities and don’t drink and drive. Or you really won’t be the one with more than ten items in your trolley in front of me in the supermarket if you catch my drift…