Night walking and shining lights

16 December 2014

After almost a whole week with no walking of any kind unless you count from the bed to the loo, the December hundred miles were looking more and more doubtful. My little Tuesday morning jaunt up the Big Hill, steep as it is, and a wander around the garden didn’t really help matters. Still, I had a plan to get a few more miles under my belt before I went back to work on Wednesday and this involved a little night walking.

The plan involved a street near the river that is famous for the sheer number of Christmas lights. Yes, I know I’m mostly all bah humbug when it comes to all things Christmas but I drove down this particular street last December and it was a real sight to behold. A circular walk taking in this street would give me almost four miles to add to my daily total, not much of a dent in the hundred but it was a start and I have fifteen more days to think up a better plan. Besides I thought I might get some interesting photos and check out how the iPhone 5s coped with night pictures.

Originally Commando Junior had said he’d come with me. He likes a nice Christmas display, but he got held up at work so, in the end, it was just me walking alone as usual. Still, the walk is all along well lit roads and I was armed with my high vis jacket so safety wasn’t an issue.

When I left home the sun had not long set, the street lights had just come on and the sky was my favourite shade of cobalt blue. My first task was getting across the Main Road. This was easier said than done as rush hour traffic was streaming away from town with hardly a gap. This year our little crescent is strangely devoid of Christmas lights. Even the house on the hill that usually looks like it could be a danger to air traffic control it’s so brightly lit hasn’t a single coloured bulb outside and very few of the houses lining the Main Road have more than a token tree in the window. With the never ending recession and the high cost of electricity I stood on the island in the middle of the road waiting to cross wondering if even the famous street would be in darkness when I got there. If it was my walk could be in vain. It took a while but eventually there was a gap in the traffic and I made it to the other side.

It wasn’t long before I came to my first Chrsitmas lights, just a little reindeer pulling a sled in tasteful white bulbs but I took a picture in case these were the only lights I saw. To be honest I wasn’t that impressed with the results but, as it might be the one and only I figured it would have to do. The next street was in total darkness apart from chinks of light through closed curtains. Maybe I was too early? Perhaps people don’t put up their decorations until the week before Chrsitmas? After all I haven’t even got mine down from the attic.

On the long avenue of large houses I had better luck. Near the top there were a cluster of houses close together all sporting pretty displays. These were mostly fairly low key and tasteful, as you’d expect from such expensive properties, although one house did have a little tableau of Santa in a sleigh and a reindeer apparently munching the lawn. That one made me smile. My favourite was a simple pine tree in a front garden swathed in white twinkling lights. If I were to ever have lights in my garden those are just the sort I’d have.

After that it was more or less back to darkness for quite a while. One or two houses had small stars or trees in the window but nothing worthy of a photograph. Up the hill towards The Castle I began to have doubts again. From this point I would be walking through an estate of terraced houses and flats many of which are council properties. If affluence was the key I’d be very unlikely to come across any decorations there.

For a long time street lights were the only lights I saw, then, near the end of the estate, the end wall of a row of terraces jumped out at me. A large flashing star surrounded by blue blubs could hardly be missed. Around the corner two adjoining houses were a blinding mass of bright blue, pink and white. A large fir tree on the grass outside was encircled by rainbow coloured bulbs. The tree on its own would have been beautiful, the other lights seemed a little like overkill but what do I know? Sadly my photo of the tree alone with the houses behind me came out rather blurred. Otherwise it would probably have made a nice Christmas card.

By now I was getting close to the main attraction. When I got there I was relieved to see lights, lots of them. There were also lots of cars driving very slowly up and down. On closer inspection these were filled with children peering in wonder from back seats. Unfortunately, all the car headlights made getting any photos of the full effect all but impossible. You will have to take my word for it, the whole place glowed. Almost every house had lights outside, most had so many I wondered what their January electricity bills would be like.

In the end I gave up trying to capture the feel of the street as a whole and concentrated on some of the more interesting houses. This was when I found out that taking photos in the dark of lights that flash is an almost impossible task. Maybe I should have made a video. If it had been quieter I’d have tried to capture individual lights but this would have meant sneaking into front gardens for the most part and I didn’t fancy getting arrested for trespass. One little group of snowflakes right by the path was the best I could manage. They came out rather well, leaving me disappointed that more of the lights weren’t easier to get close to.

When I finally came to the end of the road the darkness seemed very dark indeed. If I’m honest it was also quite welcome after such an excess of colour and, in some cases, questionable taste. The walk along River Walk road with street lights illuminating normal trees was far more to my taste. What I’d have liked to do was walk down to Woodmill and home through Riverside Park. Of course the swans would probably have all been asleep and it would have been too dark to see much of anything but I think I’d have enjoyed it. Common sense prevailed though. Even I’m not silly enough to walk through an unlit park beside the river on my own at night. Maybe if Commando Junior had been with me…

The next lights I saw were the shops at the Triangle and from there on it was back to normal dark streets for the last mile home. Ok, so the photos are not the best and the bah humbug in me thinks all those gaudy lights are a waste of money but I think there is a little child somewhere inside that still sees a little bit of magic in them. What do you think?