Happy bloody Christmas. Brixton 'decorations' 2006-2008

[editor]

I actually like our lights. I like the triangles, and I like the lights in the trees. The blue lights are lovely.

Brixton Road is hardly festive though, is it? And Electric Avenue is just plain dull.

I think the blue triangles were a job lot as they're in Stockwell too.

 

[zenazena]

for years brixton had these horrible, old & cracked rosy cheeky santas and snowmen hanging off the lampposts - they used to give me the creeps - i think the xmas lights now are quite nice.... understated, but nice

 

[editor]

Christmas. Brixton Road, 1927:

Christmas, Electric Avenue, 1908

Now that's Christmassy!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Christmas. Brixton Road, 1927:

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/3375703.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=89B856506CE546540150F65FD2137C15A55A1E4F32AD3138

Now that's Christmassy!

That's lovely. Is that Electric Avenue?

Hm, can't see Iceland and Boots bothering

 

[clandestino]

Our lights are better than the Oxford Street lights. Have you got a photo taken after dark - the lights look better then!

The blue tree is fantastic I think. More like that!

Although it would be great if they put a big Christmas tree on the top of the town hall.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Our lights are better than the Oxford Street lights. Have you got a photo taken after dark - the lights look better then!

The blue tree is fantastic I think. More like that!

Although it would be great if they put a big Christmas tree on the top of the town hall.

I do like the tree though. Lovely to see when you come out the tube

 

[editor]

Our lights are better than the Oxford Street lights.

Only because they're really, really shite.

 

[clandestino]

Only because they're really, really shite.

I know. They're such a non-event. I spent a day in town shopping the other day and was struck by how much better our lights are in comparison.

 

[clandestino]

I do like the tree though. Lovely to see when you come out the tube

Isn't it? Both trees are great. The one with the white lights outside the Ritzy, and the blue tree. They really make me feel Christmassy.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Isn't it? Both trees are great. The one with the white lights outside the Ritzy, and the blue tree. They really make me feel Christmassy.

as I said earlier, I think they should keep the trees outside the Ritzy and in St Matthews lit up all year. They could become meeting points

 

[editor]

Christmas lights, NY. The pwnage is complete.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Christmas lights, NY. The pwnage is complete.

yeah, but everything in the US is bigger and better so that's not really fair

 

[editor]

The festive cheer of Oxford St, two days before Christmas.

Not.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

The festive cheer of Oxford St, two days before Christmas.

Not.

that's truly shite I took b/f to see the lights in Oxford Street last year, it was a huge disappointment. Was bad enough having to get the courage up to go to that shithole in probably the first time in around 10 years without having to see that crap

Regent Street was slightly better but nothing spectacular

 

[Gramsci]

This year the lights on Regent st and Oxford st were underwhelming.However they do change them every year so it depends on who designs the display.

Another thing form the Eds photos it looks like a lot of the old Xmas lights were put up by the big stores themselves.As the big stores on Brixton road profit from Xmas you would think they would make more of an effort.Instead of expecting the Council to do it.

 

[brix]

I liked the Regent Street lights this year; I thought they were quite sophisticated. And, to be honest, I was just grateful they weren't horribly 'branded' like the year that they were all to do with the film Ice Age.

Anyone remember the year the Oxford Street lights were sponsored by Tango - they were bright orange and hideous

This year my favourite decorations have been the over-size paper chains on Carnaby Street http://www.carnaby.co.uk/news/news_item.cfm?id=21 Very retro!

 

[Louloubelle]

Christmas lights, NY. The pwnage is complete.

They do look very beautiful but also very environmentally unfriendly

in 2004 on boxing day there was the tsunami and I wonder whether people made the direct connection between was is essentially a non-essential use of fuel in wealthy countries with environmental disaster in other parts of the world?

 

[fjydj]

They do look very beautiful but also very environmentally unfriendly

...wow christmas must be fun in your house.

2 seconds with google reveals that the lights at the Rockefeller Center are energy saving LEDs:

The famous Christmas tree in New York's Rockefeller Center is decorated with LED lights for the first time this year. About 30,000 LED units are hung over the 25-meter-tall tree, saving up to 60 percent of the power required to light the tree in years past. The Champs Elysee in Paris is also decorated with newly designed LED lights that reduce energy consumption.

 

[Yossarian]

They do look very beautiful but also very environmentally unfriendly

in 2004 on boxing day there was the tsunami and I wonder whether people made the direct connection between was is essentially a non-essential use of fuel in wealthy countries with environmental disaster in other parts of the world?

You'd have to make some pretty big leaps to make any connection between fuel use in wealthy countries and earthquakes under the Indian Ocean.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'd rather they spent the money on something else and have no decorations at all to be honest

 

[PacificOcean]

I'd rather they spent the money on something else and have no decorations at all to be honest

Bah humbug!

 

[Orang Utan]

Not for that reason - they look tacky, are a waste of money, use loads of leccy and are wasteful considering the grimness that's going on under the glare of these lights

 

[Mrs Magpie]

I like the ones draped on trees.....

 

[editor]

The decorations are utterly dismal again this year:

But at least Brixton Station Road made some effort.

http://www.urban75.org/brixton/features/christmas-2006.html

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Wondered when they'd be a thread on the decorations. I was waiting for the dancing chillis.

I like the tree near St Matthew's.

Acre Lane is same as last year but they can't even be arsed to have the decorations all one colour

 

[clandestino]

Yeah, where are the chillis?

I like the trees outside the Ritzy and the Peace Gardens. The blue lights are lovely.

 

[malice]

And round stockwell and oval tubes they seem to have got some new ones - variations on blue and white stars, which are loads better than brixton's, which are really poor [nothing on the lampposts nearest the tube]. You'd think central brixton is seen by more people, most unfair. (I'm assuming they're all done by lambeth, but maybe stockwell and oval have declared independence?)

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yeah, where are the chillis?

I like the trees outside the Ritzy and the Peace Gardens. The blue lights are lovely.

I'd be quite happy if they left those blue lights up all year

 

[clandestino]

I'd be quite happy if they left those blue lights up all year

Just looking back at the thread. Last year I said "The blue lights are lovely", and you said "I'd be happy if they left them up all year".

See you here for more of the same next year?

 

[editor]

Yeah, where are the chillis?

I like the trees outside the Ritzy and the Peace Gardens. The blue lights are lovely.

The lights around the Ritzy are nice, but there's no Winterval Tree in the Peace Gardens, there's only a couple of crap flashing lights on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton Road is just abut untouched by any festive cheer, and Electric Lane has barely a bulb or sprinkle of tinsel.

The most Christmassy things you can see on Atlantic Road are the butchers shop lads who are at least happy to stick on Santa hats and get into the spirit of things - and something tells me not many of them are Christian!

It is pretty miserable all round though. The Town Hall just has a tacky plastic banner slung across its entrance and that's about it.