{"id":2671,"date":"2017-12-13T23:27:18","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T23:27:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/?p=2671"},"modified":"2017-12-13T23:27:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T23:27:18","slug":"christmas-spirit-an-epidemiology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs-staging.imperial.ac.uk\/student-blogs\/2017\/12\/13\/christmas-spirit-an-epidemiology\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Spirit: An Epidemiology"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Christmas spirit is absolutely infectious in London.<\/strong><\/p>\n

After making it through a term of epidemiology and medical statistics, I think I\u2019m at least qualified to say that. [95% CI crossing fingers, crossing toes].<\/p>\n

Call me a Grinch but I\u2019m not usually one to celebrate Christmas. Back in Singapore, the streets get all gussied up with lights and decorations but it\u2019s hard to really get into the whole snowman thing when it\u2019s 33 degrees Celsius all year round.<\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t given it much thought here in London either, even as the temperatures started falling. Then one foggy Christmas eve<\/span> day we went to our local laundrette and discovered that it\u2019d turned into the neighbourhood Christmas tree purveyor overnight.<\/p>\n

\"20171206<\/a><\/p>\n

The words were on my lips before my inner Grinch could protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s..\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

(No, that\u2019s the most cliched thing ever)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026starting to\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

(You can still stop!)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026look a lot like Christmas.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

(I\u2019m not sure we can be friends anymore)<\/em><\/p>\n

Suddenly, I was carrying a Christmas tree back home with a spring in my step and vague hopes of collecting pine-scented laundry in a few days. As if by magic (actually Amazon), decorations appeared and Bruce the Spruce now stands proudly in my living room with fairy lights in his boughs and presents nestled under.<\/p>\n

\"20171213<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also started exhibiting clear symptoms of Christmas spirit infection. Flurries of Christmas card writing, YouTube videos on present wrapping and a disturbingly high risk of breaking out into non-denominational Christmas carols in the shower.<\/p>\n

The beauty of Christmas in London though, is in its heterogeneity. A stroll down town will take you through all its joyous<\/span> various strains and their manifestations.<\/p>\n


\nThere are the light angels of Regent Street.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/gph.is\/2CeaR1G<\/a><\/p>\n


\nThe peacocks of Bond Street (a disturbing avian strain)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nSource: TimeOut<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n


\nThe Copacabana variety of Carnaby
\n<\/strong>
\n\"20171212<\/a><\/p>\n


\nThe Selfridges serotype (with roller skates an observed vector)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nSource: Selfridges<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And the only slightly creepy giant inflatable Germanic Walter White<\/a> at Winter Wonderland.<\/strong> I\u2019m really not sure how to classify this one.<\/p>\n

\n

Giant inflatable man with a huge bird on his hand at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland… pic.twitter.com\/ee78WJtjsw<\/a><\/p>\n

— Ian Smith (@Iansmithcomedy) December 21, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n