Knighton Park

On a continuing balmy morning I picked a December bouquet from the garden – photographically speaking, of course. We have:

Rose Festive jewel

Festive jewels,

Violas

violas,

Petunia

petunias,

Geranium redGeranium white

geraniums,

Snapdragon

snapdragons,

Solanum

and solanums.

Jackie went on a massive ‘operation fill the freezer up’ shop; Aaron finished off the bathroom; and I completed our last batch of cards that we posted on the way to lunch at Helen and Bill’s.

Helen produced an excellent roast venison meal for us; for Shelly and Ron; for herself and Bill; and for their delightful son, David and his lovely wife, Jen. The starter was tasty pate with redcurrant jelly and salad. The meat was served with plentiful carrots, Brussels sprouts, green beens, and roast potatoes and parsnips. Chocolate roulade with strawberries, melon and cream was for dessert. Cheese and biscuits was to follow. Afterwards we just about managed coffee and mint chocolates. Various red and white wines were the accompaniment.

Convivial conversation with a sprinkling of reminiscence kept us going well into the evening. Ron told us about a terrace of houses in Knighton Park in Barton which sported splendid Christmas decorations, so we decided to visit it on our way home.

Singing reindeer

We were treated to a staggering display, complete with a singing reindeer strapped to a post.

Christmas lights 1

Other people, such as the little family in this shot, had come out to see the show. I was asked to photograph them on the mother’s phone.

Christmas lights 2Christmas lights 4

Christmas lights 5

The whole of this terrace was festooned with coloured lights representing numerous motifs, and the tiny front gardens were crammed with glowing figures, including a few cribs, snowmen, and Santas.

Christmas lights 3

None of the facades or sides of the dwellings was neglected.

Christmas lights reflected in car

The street was lined with parked cars on which the scenes were reflected.

No further sustenance was required after we returned home.

44 comments

  1. December is the one month I worry less about my electric bill, especially during the week preceding Christmas. I had to look up the definition for terrace houses, Derrick. Just what we call row houses here. I think the lights are a gift to the people of that town from the residents of the terrace houses. I think it is lovely.
    Ginene

      1. Gosh, at first, I thought you said my thoughts (comment) was “quite mad” (crazy). The funny part of that is that I was thinking, “Geez, he can tell from way over there?”
        Merry Christmas, Derrick!
        Ginene

  2. They are obviously rich enough to pay for hotels when the lights blow out their power board or I hope they enjoy a very very very cold Christmas.

  3. Wow! ‘Tis the season for excess. Bring it on, I say. Time for more frugal behavior after the holidays.

  4. The vogue for these Xmas ‘light’-houses seems to have peaked. I used a play a mildly fun game ‘scoring’ the really over-the top ones (very distracting while driving, I can tell you!): I was always hoping there’d be a gross-out poo-ing reindeer, or (back in 2003) Saddam Hussein in Father Christmas garb, to score a maximum 10  :-). I’d have like to have fixed a Xmas night run-around with two teams competing to find the highest-scoring ones in a limited time, but could never find enough people free on Xmas Night. I found council estates were the best places. There’s a renowned street of these joint displays on Southampton’s Townhill Estate, which I think may have influenced the council to install a one-way system along it because it becomes such a bottleneck during Advent with visitors coming to gawp. The street (Broadwater Road) collects for charity. They had a very inventive design one year of a champagne bottle whose cork ‘popped’.

      1. Should it be called “A Sense of Perspective”? Or “No Sense of Perspective”: the first time I saw a series of these joined from one house to the next was just up the road. One night when I passed, the middle house was dark, and there was a man on the roof (yes, they used the roof, too!) obviously fixing the problem (an electrical problem, note, dear readers), IN THE RAIN!!! Yerss.

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