It is now the time of year when people go mad for Christmas and start buying tons of rubbish and decorating their houses and doing other assorted nonsense in the name of having a good time. I find this all increasingly weird.

I think it is ridiculous that low income families choose to squander so much of their resources on the huge displays of their own stupidity that are the house sized christmas lights. Not only that, but the waste of electricity is selfish and no good for the environment. There should be a surcharge for over using electricity in such a way. But then, I've never lived in a low income household. Maybe Christmas is all they have to look forward to. Maybe they're just trying to give their kids as merry a time as possible. Maybe that's just their rationale for such gawdy displays. Maybe it's a culture thing that I just don't get. It doesn't have to meet with my approval to be worthwhile for someone.

And then I ponder whether any of this is in the true spirit of Christmas. And then I remember that you don't start a sentence with a conjunction. And then I remember that I don't care. And then I remember that I don't believe in anything to do with Christianity and that a festival to celebrate the clearly embellished story of some guy who may not even have existed is not the sort of thing I would normally expect to get all purist about and that the machinery of celebrating this is largely pagan anyway.

So what do we have to celebrate Christmas for? As a series of practices, it's exceedingly hollow and pointless. We don't know why we have a tree. We just do. And lights. Stars. Whatever. It's like there's a built in ritual involving nasty brightly coloured shit and we're stuck with it for no reason.

Yet the period of enforced holiday leading up to a definite end of the year is probably a good thing. It's a time to rethink replan and get ready for another year. That's good. I could easily do it with some space, some porridge and some rest. I don't think I'll get those luxuries, though.

Spare a thought not for the wasteful revellers but, instead, for those isolated and alone this Christmas. Even though the festival may mean nothing to them, the fact that they are alone when everyone else is apparently having a good time means that their sense of isolation is heightened.

In truth, I find this a challenging time of year. If you do too, then do something about it. Find some way to tear yourself from the bingeing and tv and get out and do some good. Even a walk is better than nothing.