Black Friday

My mailbox is overflowing with Black Friday deals. I think that's a bit crazy! For starters, we live in Belgium, not in the US. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving and don't have a Black Friday to go shopping. It's a custom that has blown over. Here we have Saint Martin and Saint Nicholas who give away presents and chocolate to the kids who were good (!). It depends in which part of the country you live if you either have Martin or Nicholas visit you. Here in Dendermonde it was Martin, on November 11th. I used to think, as a kid, that we got the day off because of the Holy Man! Did I know it was to remember the end of World War One...

Well, returning to Black Friday. You can't escape it. On the radio and in the newspaper, on tv. It is as if they force you to go shopping.

Well, I do like shopping, but I only go shopping for what I need - and when I need it. If at that moment, I can buy something for less than the usual price, it's fine. Like some time ago, you got an extra pack of (very fine) coffee when you bought one. So you had them both for half-price. That's great. And when you need a new refrigerator and there's 20% off that's also great. But I wouldn't buy it just because there's a discount, see.

And how about you?