But is the Octagon tree a real one?
"As real as Santa Claus," says Dunedin City Council community events adviser Marilyn Anderson.
Feedback from my flippant Friday column about the "holidays tree" suggests, thankfully, I am not the only person who finds the "Happy Holidays" banner beneath it grating. Katrina Dodd, of Dunedin, wants those words "immediately replaced with ‘Merry Christmas’."
Karen McArthur, of Green Island, is gobsmacked at the ‘‘absurdity of the political correctness gone mad’’ in the Octagon.
"In New Zealand we celebrate Christmas," she says.
"Some of us celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, some of us celebrate the Christmas season and all the trimmings — but to the majority of us it IS Christmas and there would be no ‘holiday season’ if there were no Christmas in the first place."
As someone else points out, "holiday" of course comes from "holy day", which makes the attempt at political correctness even more farcical.
Marilyn at the city council says there has never been a "Merry Christmas" wrap under the tree, which was a gift to the city from the Caversham Foundation in the early ’00s.
The first banner had "A Gift to You" on it and lasted about seven years. The second had "Season’s Greetings" and has been replaced with this year’s "Happy Holidays".
"Trying to find something that might suit everybody is difficult. The philosophy behind this was from looking at Christmas cards and trying to get the most popular comment. We leave it up to the tree to deliver the message," Marilyn says.
Which is fine, but wouldn’t you think the most popular comment in a Christmas card might include the word "Christmas"?
Anyway, thank you Marilyn for taking the time to explain the process.
Jingle-jangle
There’s been some good responses to my appeal to turn down the volume of music in malls and cafes.
So here’s a couple of suggestions if you’re looking for somewhere quiet to go.
Charlie Campbell, of Caversham, says Nova Cafe in Dunedin’s Octagon has pleasant and unintrusive background music, while John de Waal, of Harwood, recommends the Doughbin Bakery and Cafe in South Dunedin — "plenty of food choice, friendly staff and without any intrusive muzak".
Margaret Knowles, of Te Anau, admits she is a "bit old and deaf" and doesn’t need any extra distractions. For that reason, she finds it annoying watching the TV news and other programmes when the background music is too loud."
Why do they think it is necessary to blast all that nonsense noise during an item which would be quite interesting without the music?"
Good point Margaret. Equally annoying are the continuity announcements and show previews running over the top of a programme’s end credits and music. For those programmes which have great music, that is an insult.
More workaday names
Yvonne Ritchie, of St Kilda, remembers working in an office many years ago and dealing with a firm called Topliss & Goode. She thinks they were plumbers. Then there is ODT gardening writer, Gillian Vine.
Bleuch Friday
After nearly 20 years as a Kiwi, expatriate American Dr Karen Love, of St Clair, knows all about Black Friday.
"I do not miss America’s cynical exploitation and rampant consumerism of our holidays," she says.
"Black Friday, however, is not a sinister term. It refers to a simple financial reality — this is the day most retailers move from the ‘red’ into the ‘black’."