Christmas lights

will soon start appearing. Some already have. Our neighbours have theirs on all year round. (They are on their back verandah and appear for an hour each evening.)

And there are bigger displays of course. There is usually a big one in the hills behind us. It is used as a tourist attraction. They have cancelled it this year because of Covid19 concerns. No doubt there are other displays in other places which have also been cancelled.

There is also one which may or may not go ahead. It is one we saw as children. Perhaps I should say we were forcibly taken to see it by our maternal grandparents. Our grandmother liked it so everyone else was expected to like it too. 

We children thought it was "okay" I suppose. It didn't excite us. It was a static display back then and going to see it was just something we were supposed to do each year. Children now would consider the display "boring". They are used to lights that "move".

The display was on the grounds of the brewery in the west end of the city, just outside the square mile designed by Colonel Light. I haven't been past it for years. 

This year will, if it is held at all, be the last. The brewery is closing. The soft drink factory next door closed some time ago. (We went to that once to see the process. It did not encourage me to like the product.) 

The brewery has been there for 160 years. It was taken over by a Japanese firm a few years back - with promises it would be kept going. That isn't going to happen.

From a personal point of view this doesn't matter in the slightest. I don't drink beer. (I don't drink alcohol at all as I am allergic to it. My skin feels as if it has been covered in "itching" powder. Even the hand sanitisers have been problematic although I use them.)

But, from the point of view of other people it will  matter. There will be people out of work. Some people won't find it as easy to get their preferred beer. The land is likely to be sold - almost certainly for housing. That will put an increased demand on services in the surrounding area.

And the lights won't appear again. I wonder how many thousands of people go past them each night without thinking about them - and how many more deliberately drive past so they and their children and grandchildren can enjoy them?

It will be another little thing gone from the past. People will say it doesn't matter, that - Covid19 restrictions permitting - there are other displays of Christmas lights.

And yes there will be but it won't be the same. One of the reasons the brewery display was "special" was because there were so few other places that were decorated that way. 

Now we have more we actually have less.