Christmas at the Botanics

I persuaded Mr Flum that, although we were a little disappointed in the light show last year, we might enjoy new displays, and so it proved.

I enjoyed many of them but my favourite was the Twelve Days of Christmas, main photo, in which each number was represented by the appropriate figure made of cane - simple and effective.

Extra photo is of a few other impressive displays, although I enjoyed many others. My one criticism is the overlap of sound between featured displays - Old Lang Syne from one display could still be clearly heard over the hushed tones of the Coventry Carol from the next. Had they been of compatible genre this might not have grated quite so much!

We did not avail ourselves of the waffles, marshmallows or hot dogs, still pining after churros, which we enjoyed on our first visit but have not subsequently reappeard, however, we gave Santa, still calling his greeting long after he should have been flying back to Lapland, a little wave as we passed.

We were not crowded as last year, so felt safer from the continuing threat of Covid - who would have guessed that a year on we would still feel the need for caution. The weather was perfect for the event - calm, dry and cold, we could see stars between the odd cloud.

I'm definitely going again next year.