Getting the balance right at this time

Read Martin’s column every week in the Western Morning News

- Martin Hesp on Saturday

At the start of the week, a friendly bloke in a festive jumper operating a supermarket till smiled and said: "Doing a bit of last-minute Christmas shopping, are we Sir?

A day later, while paying for fuel at a service station, I mentioned how crazily busy the motorway was, and the guy taking my money said: "It's Christmas, isn't it! Always goes mad at Christmas."

On the same day my daughter phoned... "I can't find a good turkey anywhere, Dad! We've left it too late!"

And all week I've been receiving automated out-of-office reply emails saying the person will be happy to get back to me in the new year.

Nice work if you can get it, but all this has me thinking perhaps I've been through some kind of time-warp. It's as if Christmas is happening now, not on the traditionally allotted day towards the end of next week. However, I've checked and when this column hits the streets there will still be the best part of 150 hours to go. Oodles of time for last-minute shopping, travelling up or down motorways to reach festive destinations, replying to work emails or even the finding of fresh free-range turkeys.

It's often said that Christmas comes earlier each year, but the observation is usually delivered as a complaint about early-autumn marketing hype and resultant shopping frenzy. That is getting earlier, but not the actual date itself.