By Kerri Mitchell
When I was at school I learnt some fundamentals that, I like to think have stood me in good stead ever since. The first, and most memorable is that the English alphabet starts with the letter ‘a’. Or alpha if you are in Greece. Everyone knows it and nobody questions it. There is no need as it just is. Another is that there are four arithmetical functions; addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The first number is ‘1’. Well it used to be, but then Eddie Izzard pointed out that we have now learnt that numbers do not start at 1 anymore. It goes 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3 and then 7 (Star Wars numbers it is…. – don’t forget the Yoda accent). Further, a minute is 60 seconds. An hour is sixty minutes and a day lasts from midnight to midnight; 24 hours, or so it used to be…..
Amazon have now changed it. A day is no longer 24 hours as Black Friday has begun. That Black Friday takes place on Friday 25th November this year. And Thursday 24th. And Wednesday 23rd. And Tuesday 22nd. And so on and so on and so on. For those of you that don’t know, Black Friday is the day of massive price mark downs for Christmas gift shopping. Not Friday at all but twelve days. Maybe the twelve days of Christmas I here you shout. Maybe. Maybe not.
Traditionally, Black Friday falls on the last Friday in November every year. In 2014, Black Friday was on the 28th November and was one day. Last year it increased to five days – 500% longer than 2014. It has now increased by another 240%. If it continues at this rate Black Friday could be starting in October, September or even June as the years pass.
So when you hear someone utter Christmas comes around earlier and earlier every year, you now know the reason why. It is. Thank you Amazon……
