Friday, November 28, 2014

Black Friday? Not so much

The temperature has plummeted to around minus twenty celsius. The trees and bushes, the housetop and streets are lined in white.

Everywhere I look is white and black and shades of gray.

Well, not quite everywhere, because outside the window of my temporary office is a yellow pole. I think it is there to mark the crosswalk, but it is surreal.

One yellow pole amid all the white and black and gray.

It reminds me, oddly, of that scene in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy steps out of her little house into Munchkin land, and the movie goes from Black and White to Colour.

As a child it was so magical.

As an adult it is magical still.

I am in a winter wonderland.

And so is that little yellow pole.

So, maybe it is Black Friday all over the USA and parts of Canada.

But here?

Not so much.

8 comments:

  1. You'll have to explain what the heck Black Friday means for me. Why is it called Black Friday when everyone's just been giving thanks?

    Here, we associate Black Friday with a time when there was a catastrophic bushfire, so we save Black... day for talking about bushfires that destroy homes and take lives.

    Winter wonderlands are also something I don't get to experience. No snow except at the highest altitudes here in OZ. ... It's technicolour every day!

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    1. Black Friday comes out of the USA where the day after their Thanksgiving, which was last Thursday, small stores and retailers see their sales soar with Christmas shoppers. It is called Black Friday because it is the day the businesses come out of the red, into the profit zone or black. Unfortunately Canada seems to now have also jumped on this bandwagon and sales abound on this day. For me it is bad enough that Boxing Day sales take people away from their family, but now we have these new sale crazy consumer day to contend with. Ok, Rant over......for now :)

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    2. ...hah... well we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but if you did, you can bet our stores would be right on to that 'tradition". Halloween and Valentine's Day didn't exist as Australian celebration days when I was growing up but now they are regular opportunities for money-making courtesy of the Americanisation of Australia too.... I call them Hollywood holidays and rail against them... Rant over...for now ;-)

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    3. Agree with both your rants...not into the consumerism of Christmas at all...but so many are obsessed with the 'new religion' of the economy at all costs...

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  2. -20°C is amazing to me. Wish I could see the scene with the pole.

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    1. Yes, I wish I had taken the picture. Yesterday was so crazy busy that I let the opportunity slip by. If I see a similar scene I won't let it happen again. Today I am four hours north of where I was, it is minus 29, gorgeous blue sky and sun and at least 2 feet of snow. Beautiful.

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  3. I have a lovely image of the scene you just illustrated. Black Friday, who needs it?!

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    Replies
    1. Not me! I spent it in a snowstorm, but nowhere near the shops or sales, thank goodness.

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