Light at Christmas

I am wondering how I feel this year about outdoor Christmas lights.  Living in our penthouse we don’t have the option of an outdoor display but when we lived in houses we generally had white lights in a tree near our front door at Christmas. I think there is a natural desire for increased light during the cold of winter and the long dark nights but this year feels different.

We were invited by our energy supplier to take part in a savings exercise that we happily agreed to join.  Basically at specified peak usage times we must try to  reduce our normal power consumption by turning off what we can.  In return we receive a small credit and help reduce demand.  The first time we did this, turning off tv, computers, anything on standby and using only one light we did well and earned a credit of £2.99 in one hour.  We were invited the next week to do the same for one hour on two consecutive days. We took the same action but our total saving was disappointingly about £1.50, twice the time half the return, maybe we missed something.  The latest request was to save for two hours between 5 and 7 pm which seemed a bit daunting but in fact wasn’t, again the saving was only £1.50.   

Of course it’s no great financial benefit given the enormous rises in fuel prices but we like to think it’s one in the eye for Putin as we reduce consumption and demand,  also it reminds us not to take power for granted or waste it.

So I am finding it hard to accept some of the lavish outdoor light displays we see around us. We look down onto this terrace of smart townhouses, almost every one is illuminated from dusk, most until late at night and one all night long.  I feel this is rather ostentatious, not because I dislike excessive displays (I do) but as more and more people are struggling to cope with financial pressures it seems insensitive.  It’s a tricky one, I love the lights in our town and everyone has the right to spend their money as they wish but with a worst case scenario that we could in future face power cuts shouldn’t we all be thinking about how we use this commodity.  Besides being from Yorkshire I would be inclined to have no lights, enjoy my neighbours to save my money and demand.