I've had a very bizarre experience. I wandered to the South Devon steam railway, on foot which saved much aggro, to look at the trains in action.

It is Polar Express season and the train is all done up nicely with lanterns and lots of staff.

But, the whole thing comes across to me as very tacky. Parents and kids are coralled into a large tent (many wearing Christmas pyjamas at 11am! Oh well!) where the comperes build up anticipation and excitement... in American accents. Apparently the advert for comperes specified the ability to deliver in a mid-west accent.

I like America, in fact I was married to a Minnesota lady for some time and spent happy times there so I can spot a mid-west accent quite easily. But deepest south Devon under the shoulder of Dartmoor isn't America.

Without sounding too much like a stuck in the mud old fart, I just can't see the appropriateness or necessity of American glitzy Santa stuff on a classic English preserved railway. Obviously, it's been thought through carefully for maximum revenue and it was certainly packed even at 11am and I see it's sold out all week but it seems weird to me - a sort of efficient cash extraction with pretty much no English tradition involved.

Clearly, I am now very old in my views following retirement!!