h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Somebody said recently that maybe people were lighting less for Christmas this year, as Covid made it all so depressing. That doesn't seem to be the case around here. Spending more time at home has caused our neighbours to go wild with the decorating. We certainly appreciate. They liven the landscape.

Mrs Hoggett was out on a drive in the countryside and noticed that the farmhouse decorations (featured in the Post, especially next week) were visible from the high point where the local airfield is.

'How far that little candle sheds its beams,' wrote Shakespeare. 'So shines a good deed in a naughty world.'

So here are some neighbourly lights, from a walk up our street to the Nighthoover church and back, with a glimpse of Main Street.

Oh, and the music is 'Quelle est cette odeur agreable?'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPj-EJKcUGU

Very festive, thank you

I can't tell if there are more lights this year or not - I haven't seen as many crazy displays, maybe. The ban on visiting has probably dampened a lot of enthusiasm for Christmas, and I'm wondering if folks are going to buy New Year fireworks instead to give 2020 a symbolic send-off.

That would certainly be a fitting end to the year, I agree! (Just as long as they don't burn anything down.)

Lovely decorations. You can find it here, too, but it doesn't seen more than in previous years. No fireworks allowed,here, so I am looking forward to a quiet new year's eve.

Fireworks are banned here as well, so now there is only illegal stuff which is more dangerous (and much more powerful). The idea is that less people end up in already busy hospitals with lost limbs.

Haven't seen that much outside light displays around here, but I am probably living in the wrong neighbourhood for that.

This is turning into an interesting roundup - so, fewer lit-up houses, and no legal fireworks.

Any fireworks at New Year's here are usually public displays, and they're done over water, but we might get a few kids with firecrackers. The snow makes that not so dangerous.

Lovely video

Round here there are some people who would have usually put on a good light show around their house who haven't this year, but others have really stepped up - some of my neighbours put their lights on in March to brighten up the nights of lockdown, and their house still looks wonderfully bright now

Some people set off fireworks here on Christmas Eve/Day, and I thought that was strange, but they probably did it because they were anticipating New Year's Eve would be a damp squib... I hope the animals outdoors weren't disturbed too much by it, though.

You just made me think of a lady I knew about 20 years ago in Philadelphia whose very large dogs were really afraid of thunderstorms and fireworks.

Her vet gave her a doggie therapy tape to help 'desensitise' them, but I never found out if it worked.

Ah! I have encountered aromatherapy that aimed to calm down cats and dogs on noisy days (their owner seemed to think it worked, but it could have been some sort of placebo effect as the owner was calmer), but I'd not heard of doggie therapy tapes

If I hadn't known about the fireworks ban here, I probably wouldn't have thought there to be a ban. We still had a decent amount going up (OK, instead of the indecent amount there usually is).

Due to contact with a Covid positive person, we had our Sylvester celebration on Zoom. (We all tested negative since then, luckily).

Oh, good!

I like fireworks - but I'd rather the firemen do them.