Christmas Lights

Back in October, I blipped a picture of some of the Christmas lights that the council had put up. I wondered if there would be enough money in the council coffers to actually light the lights this year, and fellow blipper Topsy56 wanted to see what they looked like when lit.
Well, the good news is that the lights have been on every night throughout November and December (I do hope we won’t be paying for them in next year’s Council Tax) but the bad news is that lights I blipped in October, looked very underwhelming when lit. Fortunately, a few short steps led us to this far more picturesque view of the town tree and the lights around it.
A combination of bad weather and not feeling too clever has made for a very quiet Christmas Day. For the first time in my life (in fact, the first time in the lives of anyone under 75) I listened to the King’s Christmas Speech. Very different to what the Queen used to do, but I think he was basically setting out his stall for what the monarchy will be like during his reign. The messages I got were his support for public and voluntary sector workers, especially those concerned with the welfare of others, his commitment to his Christian faith, whilst at the same time not excluding other faiths and that there will be a very much smaller team of “working Royals”. Some of those views may bring him into conflict with the government, so it will be interesting to see how much influence he actually has, or how political he is prepared to be.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.