Retail tracking company Experian is reporting a jittery start to the Christmas rush. The company's Footfall survey reports that high street sales were down 7.5 per cent nationally last Saturday compared to the equivalent day last year, and 1.6 per cent on Sunday. For the whole week ending on Friday, December 6, town centre sales were down 3.7 per cent on 2006.

However, it seems that many of us are heading for out-of-town retail parks, where Experian recorded a national 2.2 per cent rise for the week.

Oxford city centre retailers - many facing rent increases from major landlords including Oxford City Council and assorted Oxford colleges - are no exception to the downturn, though some are reporting a late surge in sales.

Michael Feller, who runs M. Feller, Son and Daughter butchers in Oxford's Covered market, said: "Last Saturday we were down by up to 200 customers - every shop is down and it is very difficult in retail as a whole."

But Oxford traders are a resilient and optimistic lot. Graham Jones, chairman of Oxford's High Street Traders Association, said: "We are keeping our fingers crossed for a late rush - trading has been patchy up to now, with good days and bad days.

"The fact is that last Saturday was a key day. Internet sales have boomed this year, but we hope that anyone who did not buy on the Internet by Saturday will now buy in the high street instead, in order to avoid late delivery."

Experian backs up his assertion that Internet sales have boomed this year. Its Internet research offshoot, Hitwise, has found that internet sales increased 22 per cent from October to November, and that "silver surfers" (over 55s) are the fastest growing group on the Internet, accounting for 22.4 per cent of all online shoppers.

But, worryingly for retailers, it seems that canny shoppers are becoming ever more crafty in their buying habits, some banking on discounts nearer to Christmas.

Martin Davies, of Experian, said: "Due to a combination of improvements in online shopping and consumers becoming increasingly savvy, the peak Christmas shopping days have been gradually shifting to much later in December over the past few years.

"For those who decided to avoid the bad weather and stay at home on Saturday, it is likely that they chose to do Christmas shopping online, especially as Internet delivery systems have improved greatly over the past few years, so that orders can be planned much nearer to the big day.

"Meanwhile, many experienced shoppers, who know that if they wait they might get a bargain, are simply resolutely holding out on festive purchases until the discounts arrive.

"It is possible that the stand-off between retailers and consumers will mean that a massive shopping surge may not happen now until much closer to Christmas Day."

But talk of credit crunch, stagnating house prices, rising debt, and the fear that not all lenders will pass on even the quarter per cent interest cut so far announced by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, has still not been enough to dent the confidence of some ever-cheerful Oxford traders.

The chairman of the Broad Street Traders Association Frank Watson - who owns two shops, Bonnie and Flags - said: "I think that moaning about mortgage worries won't really kick in until after Christmas.

"At the moment, trade is about the same as last year so I can't grumble. You have got to be an optimist if you are in retail. But I think people will enjoy themselves at Christmas come what may, and worry about the expense afterwards."

And this optimism exists despite reports that many of us are still paying off our credit cards from last Christmas. Not to mention a report from PricewaterhouseCooper that the average Briton now owes £33,000 in cards, mortgages and loans, compared with just £17,000 seven years ago.

Mr Jones added: "In the last few days, things are surprisingly better for traders in Oxford High Street. A traditional clothes seller told me that sales have come good since the interest rate cut, even if many lenders have not yet passed it on to borrowers. And a bookseller tells me that the patchy up-and-down trade we had last week, particularly on Saturday, may simply have reflected the bad weather."

He added: "The various events in central Oxford have helped. There was the continental market in November, then the Christmas lights, and of course the White Knights event, all of which contributed to better sales than some had feared. It's good to hear more cheerful noises from Oxford retailers at last."

After Christmas, homeowners could suffer if lenders, in a bid to recoup money in the credit crunch, fail to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers - but nevertheless cut the rates they pay to savers.

Until such problems rear their heads, there is a chance that Oxford shoppers, at any rate, might just, belatedly, decide to spend money and enjoy Christmas.

The manager of the Westgate Centre, Brendan Hatton, said: "I would say it's neither up nor down on last year - if anything, slightly up. There are no discounts yet, but even if they appear before Christmas it won't mean sales are down, but simply that patterns have changed since four or five years ago."

Now the Halifax is predicting that the start of the year will see Britons saving as never before; some will save in preparation for the end of their fixed-rate mortgages and consequent steep rise in monthly payments.

By that time, Oxford traders will doubtless once again be complaining about the imbalance between private and public transport (2,500 buses travel the High Street every day), and of course about the lack of city centre car parking.

In the meantime, to paraphase Rider Haggard: "Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we save."