For the past few years, another seasonal story has joined the traditional tales of woe about this mysterious, random thing called Winter causing chaos – always at the same time of year, it seems – on the railways of this fair land and of roadworks unexpectedly coinciding with the peak time for people taking long car journeys to visit loved ones (and even their families) thereby adding misery to the mistletoe on motorways across the country.
This new glitch concerns a nation of Tiny Tims and Tiny Tears going without the Christmas gifts intended for them simply because the theoretical givers ordered them online rather than go to the bother of fetching them on their own two feet. ‘FAMILIES FACE THE HEARTACHE OF MISSING OUT ON CHRISTMAS PRESENTS BECAUSE OF A NATIONAL SHORTAGE OF DELIVERY DRIVERS!’ thundered the Daily Mail, while the Advertising Standards Authority considered launching an inquiry into whether Amazon is leading customers of its pricey priority service astray by calling it Prime rather Prime Chumps, paying as they do £79 a year for guaranteed next-day delivery which apparently often loses a day and wakes up with its underwear on inside out.
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