‘DON’T LET HIM RUIN DREAMS’
Memories of how Santa rocked my little world
HOW much does it cost to see the big man, Santa himself, these days?
I am by no means a skinflint. In fact, like most of us, I quite enjoy spending money on frivolous stuff I neither need nor, in some cases, actually use. I am a marketer’s dream. As my mother never tires of telling me, a fool and her money are easily led all the way to Brown Thomas.
But of late I have come to realise that spending money on experiences over stuff, is by far the biggest investment you can make. Memories last a lifetime but bags, alas, only a season (but I still quench my couture lust from time to time).
So with that in mind, I set about searching for Santa experiences this festive season to bring the younger kids along for a magical memory-making day of family festive fun.
Some of the prices to see Santa would set you back the price of a designer handbag.
For a family of four, a visit on any of the more popular days before
Christmas would cost at least €70, more likely €100-plus, and that’s without parking, food and the inevitable Christmas tat parents are guilted into buying for their darlings.
Nearly every Santa experience I looked at will cost an adult around €15. While I appreciate that adults are enjoying the day, they are actually there for the children. Adults don’t get to sit on Santa’s lap and ask him for a platinum credit card that would magically appear under the tree on December 25.
While the Santa experiences can be bauble-bright, brilliant days out, the prices smack of consumerism and opportunism during the socalled season of goodwill.
I have fond memories of our annual trek to see the man in Arnotts every Christmas. The build-up was mind-blowing: sleepless nights were spent thinking of meeting the man in the red suit who held all of our dreams and wishes in his hands. The hype before we all went into town: putting on our best dresses and our mammies plaiting our hair. The mad traffic and the endless queues were worth every moment when finally we stood there amazed, wide-eyed, and full of wonder in front of Santa himself.
It is a memory I, and many others, will hold dear forever and a lifetime.
A mixed-up week in a mad, mad world
IN St James’s Hospital, Dublin, this week, efforts were ramped up to free up beds for the next influx of the sick and wounded.
As part of the ‘initiative’, posters bearing a slogan telling employees that ‘the battle is on – don’t miss out’ were emblazoned around nurses’ stations, offering prizes of up to €500 to motivate the nurses to find ways of having patients discharged.
The offensive competition flatlined when the insensitivity of offering nurses cash to herd the sick and elderly out of their beds was pointed out to the hospital.
Meanwhile, in Donegal, the elderly needed no such money motivators to vacate their beds, as appalling conditions in a nursing home meant that staff had to slosh out buckets of water to save the premises from flooding.
The excess water from Donegal would be welcome in Dublin where the City Council determined that what the capital needs is not more houses, or hospital beds. No, the capital is crying out for a whitewater rafting facility in a historic Liffeyside dock that on most days is a place of calm.
Latest estimates show the council proposes to spend €22m on the facility. This would be money well spent, according to city manager Owen Keegan – coincidentally a rafting aficionado – who said the scheme will benefit ‘all of the people’.
Meanwhile, there was no stopping the bingo brigade, who became the latest in a very long line of disgruntled people to vent their anger at this Government. The bingo ladies took to Merrion Street to warn Leo to get his ‘hands off bingo halls’ and show their fury over proposed legislation that would put a cap on winnings and could effectively spell the end of the bingo hall.
Amid all this, Lisa Smith, Ireland’s most talked-about ex-pat arrived home amid tight security to a blaze of cameras and headlines just as RTÉ announced the line-up for this year’s Dancing With The Stars.
Trudeau shows he is the meanest boy
CANADIAN PM Justin Trudeau has been exposed as the Regina George of global politics. Regina George is the main antagonist of the cult chick-flick Mean Girls.
High school student Regina is pretty, popular, intelligent, manipulative and capable of doing everything in her power to get what she wants. She is not just another high school bully – she is the Queen Bee.
Footage filmed in Buckingham Palace during this week’s Nato summit, has gone viral and shows British prime minister Boris Johnson, French president Emmanuel Macron, Trudeau and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte appearing to have a laugh at US president Donald Trump’s expense over his impromptu news conference earlier in the day.
After the footage went viral Trump cancelled a planned postsummit press conference. Whatever your feelings about The Donald, the Buckingham bitch-fest led by Trudeau was just rude and juvenile.
Snowf lake misses the point of books
FOR Christmas one year my best friend gave me some Mr Men books as a jokey gift. She presented me with Miss Naughty, Miss Late and Miss Funny, all attributes I proudly admit I possess.
But this week, Scottish student snowflake Shelby Judge, 24, branded the books as ‘sexist’ after it was claimed a male character was ‘mansplaining’ to a little miss.
Shelby, 24, who previously took women’s studies [of course she did] spotted the book in a gift shop and was offended as Little Miss Curious, hearing about Scotland’s Forth Bridge, asked: ‘So what happened to the River First, River Second and River Third?’ In response ‘Mr Clever sighed, “It was going to be a long day”.’
Shelby declared the Mr Men book sexist and unfunny. Which put her completely out of step with the millions of fans who can take a joke.