Up until now, the state has missed the bus and even now, appears to be in no great haste to remedy what continues to be one of the country’s more unwholesome urban challenges… the inexorable ‘falling away’ of the capital, the new structures that have ‘gone up’ in the commercial heart of the capital notwithstanding. Historically, what Guyanese loosely describe as ‘Christmas shopping’ has always meant different things to different people. For some it has meant a ‘one off,’ ‘feel good’ splurge, a window through which to exhale from the stifling sensation of the preceding period. Here, the returns are mostly limited, allowing for a ‘living-in-the-moment’ rather than entering a zone of long-term elevation. It comes and it goes.