Boxing Day

For the first time in years, I went shopping on Boxing Day. We saw ads for great electronics and wanted in. I left at 9:00 with some trepidation. I had chosen an out-of-the-way venue, deciding the store would be unpopular and as deserted as could be. By the time I arrived (after circling a bit in the one-way streets), it was 9:45 and the store was quiet with just a few cars in the parking lot. I loaded the car with goodies and enjoyed the great savings. It was painless and I was happy (as much as things can make you happy - let's not go there, shall we?). I went to a few other stores, but a lot of them were closed on the 26 - it made sense to me. I wasn't working. Why should they?

As a teenager in Montreal, I went at least once or twice to Sam's the Record Man's Boxing Day sale. It was almost a rite of passage. You get loads of money and you get to spend it on music after waiting for hours in line talking to strangers in the bitter cold. It's a must when you're growing up in Montreal. I paid cash (I did not have a credit card yet) so my math skills had to be up to par. They were - tax was the tricky part but if you rounded up to 10% you were sure to have a safety net. Plus my brother was always there to bail me out. He received even more money than me since he was older. On our way back, we would compare our records and read the labels. There was no way to listen to them until we got home (an hour later) as those were vinyls. We did not mind the wait. It gave us time to decide which we would listen to first...