Christmas, Nostalgia and First Amazon Purchases

Sports Personality of the Year is on the Beeb this evening, and I'm waiting with baited breath to see what the new format is going to be like as this programme, above anything else, signifys the start of Christmas and needs to be watched on a big sofa, in front of a roaring fire, with the fairy lights twinkling on the new, not yet drooping, Christmas Tree and a glass or two of mulled wine in hand. I hope they don't spoil it, as the lack of an obvious winner makes this year makes it all the more interesting, despite being a sorry
advertisement for the state of British Sport. For what it's worth, I'm rooting for Beth Tweddle (the gymnast). Anyone who is still that supple at 21 deserves to be recognised.

Anyway, whilst waiting for this highlight of the festive programming calendar, I came across a posting on John Robert's Blog , responding to the question "What was your first Amazon purchase"?. Intrigued, I had to find out for myself.

It turns out that the first purchase I can find was in early November 1998 and it was Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. How embarrasing. Infact, thinking about it I was probably simply too embarrased to actually walk into a shop and buy this at the time, and I certainly can't remember actually reading it as back then it really wasn't the kind of thing you wanted to be seen with on a daily commute.

My second purchase, shortly afterwards was Net Future: The 7 Cybertrends that will drive your business, create new wealth, and define your future". Now that's more like it. Although funnily enough, I'm not sure I ever actually read this either. A quick dig around at home and what's more I can't actually find it, so I've put my hand in my pocket a second time round as I'm now intrigued to see which of those 7 Cybertrends predicted back in 1998 hold true as we go into 2007 almost 9 years later.

Looking at my Amazon history after this and 1998 was clearly my first recorded year of online Christmas shopping, with a flurry of activity in the last 2 weeks before the 25th December. Amazing to think that back then online shopping was largely limited to books and CDs. This year, 95% of my shopping has been done online already (I'm aiming for the big 100) without a book or CD in sight.

So, a nostalgic trip down memory lane - thanks for the prompt John - and just in time for the nostaliga of another year of British sporting greatness...