I bumped into a pupil and his father on the train today. They were going into town to buy a particularly large bar of chocolate from a particularly old shop. It’s part of their Christmas ritual and something they do every year. They could do it online, the boy said, “I mean obviously”, but then that “doesn’t really mean anything”.
It made me wonder whether efficiency gets in the way of ritual, and with that, togetherness. (Casper ter Kuile is interesting on this). At school, for instance, we’ve just put up Christmas decorations. They’re looking great - probably even better than normal - and were put up very efficiently. One previous year, though, when the pupils had gone home, the volunteer “putter uppers” took breaks from untangling fairy lights with a little wine and cheese laid out on one of the outdoor table tennis tables. It did mean putting up the lights took longer but it was a lovely bit of staff togetherness, and set the festive tone.
So a note to self: watch out for those little opportunities to build traditions of togetherness, inefficient as they are.