When The Glowing Gets Tough
Imagine, if you will, two ordinary houses sitting side-by-side in an ordinary street in Inverness. Ordinary, that is, except for the addition of a hundred or so coloured bulbs and enough electricity to power a small village. Well that's what caught my eye as I was driving home tonight. In fact it caught my eye and almost caused me to veer onto the pavement. Yes I know this American habit of illuminating the front of houses has been catching on in Scotland, but still...I was intrigued. Did these two neighbours get together to add a bit of festive cheer to the community? Or are they deadly rivals who try to outshine each other every year?
There was only one way to find out. I parked the car, fished out my Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú I.D. card and knocked on the door of the first house. Seconds later that door opened a few inches and a woman's head appeared in the available space. I told her who I was, asked if I could take a few photographs and then fired a few questions. Soon we were both standing in the garden while she pointed out the various features of the display.
"It's just something we do every year," she told me, "there's also a train that sits on that empty track there and a projector that beams onto the wall...but my husband switches them on when he gets back from work."
I noticed a car cruising slowly past on the street and I asked her if she minded people gawping at their windows every evening. She shrugged and I realised the stupidity of my question. That, when you think of it, is the point of the whole thing.
But what about the next door neighbours? Is this a collaboration or a contest?
"We do our thing and they do theirs."
I can't say I was convinced and if I was ever going to get the bottom of this I would have to do one of two things. Either I could chap on the neighbour's door and get the other side of the story...or else I could hand this whole thing over to one of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's crack investigative reporters in the Inverness newsroom.
And you know, there was something about that big 'Beware Of The DOG' sign on the neighbour's gate that made me remember I was already running late and my tea would be getting cold.
It was a light-bulb moment, really.
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