Still, things aren’t too bad in the run-up to Christmas – Santa lives down the road
The home of Santa: The community of North Pole, 15 miles out of Fairbanks, celebrates Christmas every day of the year. Fairy-tales whose point is cash for shed teeth or expensive presents do not have much magic or wonder in them, anyway. All he said was: “He’s come.” He then exercised enormous discipline by going to sleep until the permitted hour on Christmas morning. Both he and his brother seemed quite capable of enjoying the magic, growing out of it and then rejoining it for the benefit of their younger sisters in due course.What is wrong with co-operating in children’s games that say something about real (although not guaranteed) possibilities of giving and receiving presents which, sometimes, fulfil one’s wishes? What is wrong, at a particular season, with focusing on giving, sharing, enjoying and celebrating? What is wrong with attending to stories of great beauty and power that claim to reveal the possibilities for human being and divine being? All this should be taken not literally but seriously – and with as much hope and celebration as we can honestly offer.But fairy-tales are out The world is too tough for them So are the biblical nativity stories. How, I asked, are we to get it over that Christmas is not a fairy-tale?
None of the clergy present exploded, and several expressed great relief that the point had been raised. But, they asked, how do we handle this?
How indeed? The question is sharply posed by the reported fate of the vicar who attempted to tackle this very question just before his parish nativity play. Angry parents forced him to apologise for the distress to their children, who now even doubted the reality of Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy.I am not unduly bothered about the Tooth Fairy.
Surely it can be openly declared as a family custom that each first tooth, as it is shed, can be exchanged for additional pocket money. This should be according to an agreed tariff, which may be varied for inflation and can be withheld if the state of the family economy no longer permits such welfare payments. Such a realistic approach should help the growing child to come to terms with the prevailing realities of the market economy in the adult world.Father Christmas may be a different matter. It seems sad to do away with the magic that I saw shining in the eyes of our second son, whom I had heard stirring when I was creeping to bed on Christmas Eve after leaving the presents. And next time the London Underground seizes up or British Rail chokes on the wrong kind of snow, think of Paris in December 1995 and imagine what would happen if the whole transport system shut down.. Earlier this month, I had the disturbing thought that we Christians would never be able to put across the true meaning of Christmas until we had suppressed children’s nativity plays I put the idea to a meeting of clergy in inner-city Leeds. Jean Tiberi, the mayor of Paris, announced on Friday that both would be studied.But their potential is handicapped: river buses, as their passengers have discovered, are slow and the destinations limited.
Cycle routes will take time to develop: Paris has grand boulevards, but few parks like London’s There is also the paramount question of dress. Cycling, however, which is a popular recreation in France but poorly provided for in the cities, is seen as a potential area for development, as are the river buses. The more “rational” use of cars will probably decline as swiftly as it developed: drivers and passengers alike have emphasised the problems of co-ordinating departure times and the need to do errands along the way.The number of people walking will also fall when there are quicker alternatives. Crime is bound to increase now that the metro and suburban lines have reopened. The reported instance of such crimes was 25 per cent down on this time last year.The question now is how far the positive effects of the strike will persist, or can be helped to persist, beyond its end Unfortunately, the possibilities seem limited. Before drivers persuade themselves that the weather has a greater effect on pollution than car use, though, they must answer environmentalists who say that measurement methods underestimate the “close-up” pollution experienced by pedestrians and cyclists.
They want calculation methods changed.There was one unambiguous benefit from the lack of public transport Crime in Paris fell sharply. Increased street patrols following the bombings may have helped, but the closure of the metro and suburban railway undoubtedly limited opportunities for bag-snatching and mugging. If there had been a longer strike, many of the facilities that make a city attractive could have been threatened.Cost, indeed, was an element significantly missing from the “great strike experiment”: not only the cost to business, but the comparative cost of travel. The alternative transport was free but inadequate; parking was also free, but difficult. If the usual regulations had been in force, more people might have chosen alternatives; more likely there would have been mass disobedience.One of the predicted horrors of greater car use, however, seemed not to materialise. Pollution levels in the city were lower than at many times through the summer, thanks, it is said, to benevolent air currents. Those still driving had made their calculations and were philosophical.
They sat in the jams reading books and newspapers and making phone calls; there was far less hooting of horns than in pre- strike times.Of the other car users, some had transferred willingly to the infrequent commuter buses and boats provided since the second week by the city council. Others had taken to bicycles, motor cycles, roller skates or walking. Still others – but surprisingly few – took work home or stayed away: fewer than 25 per cent of Paris workers took even one extra day off work during the strike.What they did, however, was to concentrate their energy on the one task of getting to work. City-centre shops, restaurants, theatres, cinemas and exhibitions suffered crippling losses. Peak time for jams became earlier and earlier – to 5am – but then, so did the evening rush-hour.In the last week, a sort of equilibrium was achieved The jams were reduced to an average of 125 miles.