Saturday, November 08, 2008

Deflation

All right, already. I can see the temptation. A quick prick of a needle -- and whoosh, a sumo wrestler no more. I admit to having such evil thoughts the other night along Mt. Vernon Street.

One reason is that I really don't like holiday inflatables. No way. They are gross and puffy to look at. The colors are primary plastic garish. I know that I should be less judgmental, that the blow-it-up figure substitutes air for stuff and thus could be considered less wasteful. But then few (if any) folk celebrated Xmas or Halloween with such huge monstrosities in years gone by.

On the other hand, seeing that deflationary impulse in action, reminds me that there's an anti-social streak of plain, old-fashioned destructive meanness in action when a string of inflatables are struck by darts well before the holiday arrives. How does this compare with overturning outhouses or laboring to move a Model-A to the top of a church, as in the G.O.D. (Good Old Days)? I'm not sure if I'm up to picking apart the threads of a possible argument pro or con.

4 comments:

Antipodean Curmudgeon said...

Our sainted mammy never mucked about with blow-up stuff. Just give her some hanks of cloth, an air con filter and some chickenwire and she would construct highly imaginative figures/critters apropos to the occasion.

Hermano

Granny J said...

No, bro, she never saw anything store-bought that she couldn't make better, be it kids' clothing, holiday decorations or her wedding dress.

Anonymous said...

And, with the current economic state, I am hearing more "buzz" from people, neighbors, who want to make stuff from scratch.

I've seen a huge difference in children's birthday parties... going back to the basics!

Maybe the holiday decorations, too, will return to the basics!

~Anon in AV.

Granny J said...

anon av -- huzzah for all who do it. And then real credit to those who develop real craftsmanship in the process. I think that buying everything, even a holiday or a birthday party, thoroughly diminishes its importance.

 
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