It has started....

I was cycling home yesterday evening and heard it for the first time.

Christmas music blaring from all the shops along Oxford Street. Now I think some of them have been playing it ultra quietly until it turned December, but once that magical date appeared - turned the volume dial to full.

Considering there is supposed to be a credit crunch, the streets in London are still surprisingly busy and people are carrying large amounts of shopping.

There is even a Santa's Grotto at St Pancras Station this year - with various prices on offer depending on whether you want to buy your child a gift, or just take their picture with the bearded one. Another offer is breakfast with Santa - £8 for a child and £5 for adults - unusual for children to be more expensive!

For me Christmas just means a good week off work, catching up with friends and family and remembering those that are no longer with us. All the commercial stuff just doesn't matter.

However I will be digging my 'Now That's What I Call Christmas vol 3,000000' out of the cupboard and playing the songs at full volume on Christmas morning - just for old time's sake of course.