Every Christmas for the last few years or so, the house at the end of my cul de sac has had progressively larger and more elaborate Christmas decorations put up outside it in support of the St Michael’s Hospice in St Leonards. It started off fairly small, with a few illuminated trees and tube lights affixed to the side of the house. Last year they built a ski run down the side of the house. This year they had a river.

Here’s the BBC news report on it. You’ll have to click here to view it as I can’t embed it in the blog.

It even made The Sun.

Apart from the night of the big switch-on which attracted crowds so great that it was impossible to drive into my road, and the subsequent month-long drizzle of cars crawling by the house and paying no attention to their driving, there was little disruption to our lives. The lights faced the main street and disn’t disturb us, and I think they also had their own electricity supply provided for them. In the cartoon, I exaggerated the effect they had on their neighbours for comic effect.

It took several attempts to get the Spielbergian light effect I wanted. This was my first go, and it ended up as more of a glowing mist than the blast of light I wanted.