Economics of the high street

I consider myself a reasonably bright person, but one area I most decidedly struggle with is economics. When the newspaper goes on about “tumbleweeds blowing down your high street” I can’t quite reconcile it with a trip to the West End of London. Around Picadilly circus at 7.30 on the evening of Sunday 26 Jan was entirely comparble with the the same spot a year ago, or two years ago. Thousands of people in a frenzy of consumerism, clutching thousands of branded bags (all destined for the landfill), containing thousands of pounds worth of tat (much of that probably also destined for the landfill), and not a tumbleweed in sight. I’m really starting to feel the pinch of the rescession, but witnessesing these scenes – am I missing something?