Recession, Schmession ...

I was shopping on Grafton Street earlier today - nice to see it busy, also to see lots of British and Northern Irish visitors amongst the shoppers. Good also to see businesses getting on with the job of trading and meeting customers' needs, regardless of the recession.

Some - such as BTs, where I took this photo - are showing some 'Blitz Spirit' and reminding shoppers that 'great clothes will always outlive bad times'. True enough. As I stood there in the sunshine (okay, there was the occasional shower as well), it struck what a great thing consumerism is: to provide such a delightful array of wonderfully creative artefacts for sale - which I could choose to buy or not buy as took my fancy. Or anyone elses.

And it struck me that those who rail against consumerism usually mean other people's consumerism. Not their own, modest tastes in, say, mobile phones, laptops and GMO free, organic, fair trade t-shirts. Though even these are available at 'recession prices' in Dublin today ...