Hasn't Christmas been weird this year?

The doom and gloom of the credit crunch has made sure that many people have had a quiet Christmas and I know of several comapnies (including my employer) who have decided not to bother having the annual Christmas party this year. Instead, a "batton down the hatches" mentality has been adopted with many choosing to celebrate at home rather than spending money on meals and drinks at a restaurant or down the pub. Even I have stockpiled my beloved scrumpy cider after being flabbergasted at how cheap it was to by from a supermarket, rather than 'out on the town'. I picked up a 3 litre box of "Weston's Organic Draught Vintage Cider for £6.38, which makes it just over a pound a pint, which is better than almost £3 in the pub! Just don't drink it all at once, it's quite strong and is prone to giving you a headache!

So, the financial downturn has meant the loss of some high street brands and Woolworths in Withernsea is set to close after the group went into administration. Attempts have been made to keep some of the other more lucrative stores open, but not the Queen Street branch. I've been trying to find out how long there has been a Woolies in With but nobody seems to know, I know that when my parents used to come to Withernsea for a day out I always remembered seeing a Woolworths, so it must be a long time? If you know or know of anyone who does, please email me on radiomike@live.co.uk

Only a fortnight ago, local MP, Graham Stewart appeared infront of Woolworths on television trying to get people to come to Withernsea to do their Christmas shopping. I watched this report with interest and thought to myself "why on earth would people come into Withernsea when they're bound to have adequate shopping facilities where they live!?" The report, on Look North, also featured an MP from Barton-upon-Humber making the same plea.

The truth is that unless there is something extra-ordinary in these towns, people have no reason to go there. Maybe the new seafront development plans will help kickstart an interest in Withernsea? But, who knows when that'll happen and most importantly if the development will retain a curiosity throughout the winter-months when the area seems to transform from a busy tourism-lead place into a ghost town, only time will tell.

Meanwhile, in the music charts the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" is at both number 1 and number 2 in the official Christmas Top 40. Of course, the brainwashed masses who watch X-Factor ensured that Alexandrar Burke's version was always going to be number one. But, wouldn't it have been nice to have a Christmas number one which didn't get there because of the hype?

Being a fan of the underdog, I championed the Jeff Buckley version and found that there was a group on the internet socal networking site, Facebook. The group attracted over 100,000 members after just one week, and the track got to number three in the iTunes chart, so I knew we were on to something. The song eventually climbed to number 2, even though it was never released as a physical single, and even the original by Leonard Cohen managed to get a look in at number 36, again on download sales alone. It's just a shame that the hype of Saturday night TV seems to outweigh talent nowadays.

Merry Christmas and all the best for 2009!
Mike Brown.

Links:

• Drink Aware website.
• Graham Stewart MP website.
• Jeff Buckey's website.
• Leonard Cohen's website.