Today was "hit the sales" day as needed to buy 16 year old son a suit for work experience next week.  

The newspapers are full of doom and gloom about the recession, mortgage famine, credit crunch, upcoming summer-long strikes, plunging retail sales etc etc.  Out there on Oxford Street prices are being slashed with discounts of 50% to as much as 75% on a vast array of products.  It doesn't look as if the Great British Public is holding back overly.  The national pastime of Shop Til You Drop is alive and well. I can only surmise that central London is a bubble all of its own and not indicative of the state of the nation.