Of course, it is early days and many comments are still trial balloons seeking to test public reaction as well as the sincerity of the other side.

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For small retailers, balloons are often an important component of the store's success, and many of these small businesses would not be able to survive without the revenue generated from balloons.

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There were so many stores decorated with tinsel and streamers and balloons, selling little artificial fir trees, displaying gross Christmas cards hawkers had even set up on the sidewalks peddling these nauseous things (usually with pictures of a snowy scene in Vermont and some saccharin verse inside about ol' Jack Frost).

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Many of the protesters on the march were women wearing pink clothing and carrying pink balloons, the colour adopted by breast cancer charities.

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