The Recession Bites
Jan. 7th, 2009 10:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloMy mother gave us Marks and Spencer's vouchers for Christmas- it's a tradition- and yesterday afternoon we set out to spend them. We thought of buying our week's shopping there, but the prices were sooo expensive we changed our minds and limited ourselves to a few treats- then drove to Sainsbury's to lay in the basics.
Ailz is on the phone discussing it with her mother. "£21 for a leg of lamb!" she says.
And this morning we hear M & S are shutting 25 of their "Just Food" stores and cutting 1,250 staff following the worst Christmas performance ever. After yesterday I'm not surprised.
At least they're only retrenching. Yesterday was the final day of trading for the British Woolworths. Cue sad footage of high street stores being stripped of their fittings and Woolies employees in their cheery, red tabards standing around on the snowy pavement, putting a brave face on it.
And what about Waterford-Wedgewood? Wedgewood can't go bust. It's one of the pillars of eternity. Where would we be without our jasperware?
But in the present economic climate, nothing should be taken for granted.
Which brings us to yesterday's LJ panic. That too- I fully believe- was also only a retrenchment. What we- and by we I mean us Westerners- forget is just how big LJ is in Russia. According to Wikipedia, Zhe-zhe, LJ's Russian name, is also the generic word for blog. For Russians, LJ isn't just one platform among many, it is the blogosphere- and therefore a highly valuable, cultural property. Even if the current owners wanted to get rid of it, I think there would be others eager to pick it up.
So I'm not waving my arms around or moving elsewhere. I'm being optimistic or stoical or zen. And if the bulldozers come, they come.
Ailz is on the phone discussing it with her mother. "£21 for a leg of lamb!" she says.
And this morning we hear M & S are shutting 25 of their "Just Food" stores and cutting 1,250 staff following the worst Christmas performance ever. After yesterday I'm not surprised.
At least they're only retrenching. Yesterday was the final day of trading for the British Woolworths. Cue sad footage of high street stores being stripped of their fittings and Woolies employees in their cheery, red tabards standing around on the snowy pavement, putting a brave face on it.
And what about Waterford-Wedgewood? Wedgewood can't go bust. It's one of the pillars of eternity. Where would we be without our jasperware?
But in the present economic climate, nothing should be taken for granted.
Which brings us to yesterday's LJ panic. That too- I fully believe- was also only a retrenchment. What we- and by we I mean us Westerners- forget is just how big LJ is in Russia. According to Wikipedia, Zhe-zhe, LJ's Russian name, is also the generic word for blog. For Russians, LJ isn't just one platform among many, it is the blogosphere- and therefore a highly valuable, cultural property. Even if the current owners wanted to get rid of it, I think there would be others eager to pick it up.
So I'm not waving my arms around or moving elsewhere. I'm being optimistic or stoical or zen. And if the bulldozers come, they come.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-07 04:32 pm (UTC)I am also in the process of taking off most of my posts (not the photos and not the memes) and saving them on a memory stick, just as I did with my msjann65 entries when I closed that journal last year.
I really hope that you are right about this. I so look forward to logging on to LJ each morning when I have my coffee.
I would miss you, and others on my F-list.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-07 05:01 pm (UTC)