As mince pies and hot cross buns are appearing side by side on the shelves it is the sales assistants in the shops I feel most sorry for.

I was in such a shop last week in which banal Disneyfied Christmas musak was being played in an endless loop.

If I was employed in such an emporium, by the time “The season to be jolly” came to its conclusion I would be happily punching the blow-up Rudolph’s red nose in an effort to relieve the stress.

Peter Holme

Kendal