cavingliz non-cave albums: London Christmas lights 2017

Monday, December 11, 2017

London Christmas lights 2017

I started at the Crystal Palace Winterfest but was disappointed to find it was just a fun fair, with a few food stalls. I didn't even see the ice skating rink, but was amused to read it was closed the next day when it snowed! And just 3 days later I read that it had permanently closed for various reasons.

So then I decided to head into London to see the lights.

First stop was Somerset House to see the ice skating. My last visit was in the summer in July 2017.
Skate at Somerset House is an annual event. Fortnum and Mason is a partner.

I got to Trafalgar Square and was surprised to see hundreds of santas, mostly on the plinth at the base of Nelson's column. They were all drinking and lots were already rather drunk, before 7 pm. Next day I looked it up and read this, from the Daily Mail 10 Dec 2017 :
"Hundreds of drinkers descended on London dressed as Father Christmas for SantaCon as the annual American pub crawl hit the UK once more.
Describing itself as 'non-profit, non-political, non-religious and non-sensical', the parade that originated in San Francisco invites people to 'join the naughty list' and down drinks in the capital's bars and open spaces."
Apparently it has been happening for 18 years in London. It is more or less a Christmas pub crawl!

The tree at Trafalgar Square was lit up on Dec 7, as usual it is a gift from the people of Norway for the British help during the Second World War, a tradition since 1947. The tree is 25 m high. The lights look the same as last year.

Then onto Piccadilly Circus via Waterloo Place -

The advertising screens known as Piccadilly Lights are one of the UK’s most iconic landmarks. They have had a makeover and were re-launched in October 2017. The original patchwork of screens was replaced with a single state-of-the-art 4K LED digital screen and live technology hub, which allows the screen to react to certain external factors, such as the weather or temperature.