The Demise of the Chemicals Xmas Card

It's November, so piles of Chemicals Greetings Cards are starting to wend their way across the desks of uninterested executives for signature. Is there anything quite as dreary as the sight of jolly snowmen on a mild autumn day? There can be few logistical nightmares quite as daft as boxloads of Season's Greetings cards being signed in the US then forwarded to Germany for second signatures then posted to the UK. The number of cards coming in and out of the ICIS offices has been in decline in recent years. Does anyone under the age of 30 send Season's Greetings cards at all?

And what are you supposed to do with e-Greetings cards? You can't print them out and put them on display because that defeats the whole ecologically sound point of not wasting paper. Should you move them to a Greetings cards e-folder? What is the etiquette here?

My favourite cards were the famous Huntsman cards - the family picture of beautiful blondes - thank you so much Tim and Gillian for the cards 2003-2005, the Teesside years. It shows Jon Huntsman Snr with his children, 55 grandchildren and assorted husbands and wives, and comes with a key numbered one to 72, identifying each one.

The most grim card was the Dow 2003 card, showing two men on a bridge shaking hands over a river of green dollar bills.