It hurts, but I must make two apologies. Sorry, three.

I've been going on and on about London's lack of snow (we have no snow) for over a week now (maybe longer).

I've pulled out all the stops in an attempt to cajole Mother Nature or local weather forecasters (even Jay Campbell, and he's retired for pity's sake) to dump at least 18 inches of the white stuff on our city by Christmas Day.

Nothing's happening (in the snow department), and I've likely irritated countless people (maybe even more) with my weather rants and ramblings.

[Link to the following to see what I mean: http://itstrikesmefunny.blogspot.com/2009/12/without-snow-rudolphs-landing-will-be.html]

Normally, I'd supply a direct link but I'm using a cheaper computer for a couple of days.

For that I apologize. Darn. That's three.

To begin, I offer my first apology to Londoners for the noise about snow, or lack thereof, I've been creating lately.

My second apology is offered to all Ontarians, the kind-heartd people of my home province.

The people of Ontario (really don't deserve this blow, but here goes anyway) are second last - pennies away from the bottom of the pile - when it comes to intended Christmas spending.

And it's all my fault.

I've been spouting off about my motto every third day (i.e., "reduce spending, pay off debt, save money for tough times") and it's caught up to businesses, retailers and corporate giants everywhere in this great slice of Canada.

Hey, speaking of slice: If Canada was a pizza, Ontario would be a lowly piece of grisly pepperoni and Quebec would be a foul-tasting anchovy because it came in dead last, for which I'll not apologize.

A recent article in my local paper say "the holiday season is the busiest time of year for the country's retailers and provides a barometer for consumer confidence in the economy" and I haven't been tuning in to the same barometer or oozing in confidence.

Truthfully, I've only bought a few gift cards. And obviously, not enough to really help out.

Many others have reduced spending too, but I'm the one chiefly to blame.

I mean, I say 'live small' every second day!

So, sorry.

.