Bah humbug!

I don't feel very Christmassy right now. The artificial tree is lying on the floor in the lounge, and the decorations remain firmly in their box in the back bedroom. I played Carols from Clare yesterday and enjoyed them, but we went into town to pick up a birthday present (real ale guide for 2007 from my brother-in-law, and much appreciated!) and to visit Matalan. I resisted temptation, but Toni needed some cheap clothes for the weekend and I ended up buying one of them as a Christmas gift. Sadly you need a card to shop in Matalan, and they shove an application form in your face ("we only need your name and address to send you special offers", the cashier told me). As we paid separately, the net result is that one of us will now be bombarded by crap from both Matalan and anyone it's able to sell their details to. I spotted the small print and ticked both boxes, noting that it should be opt-in, not opt-out. Toni missed both, but now I'm worried that they were opt-in and I've just given them consent to bombard us. Either way the whole selling your details to other parties is obscene - why should Matalan profit from invading my privacy and chucking a load of waste through my letterbox? We get enough of that already, thank you.

Ah, it's been a while since I've had a good rant. There were some very cheap trousers going in Matalan (sweat-shop produced no doubt), but I very much doubt I'll be giving the shop my custom in future.