Simple Life

Milner Gardens at Christmas. The gardens are open at night for a Christmas display. We decided to check it out. Parking at the side of the road (because it is busy) we make our way into the gardens. It’s dark. The paths are hardly lit and what light we have is supplied by a rather simple display of multicoloured Christmas lights and the stars. I’m still a city gal. I can’t believe they aren’t worried about lawsuits if someone trips and falls. There are old folks, little kids, teenagers and families walking in the darkness. The display is pretty basic … no flashing lights, no innovative lighting hotspots – just coloured Xmas lights. And everyone is delighted. It is so simple and peaceful. No carols, no piped music. We find Santa and Mrs Clause in a cabin in the ‘forest’ gently talking to youngsters – surrounded by parents, darkness, stars and quiet. In another building, a woman is reading a story quietly. Kids are lying on the floor listening. No twitching, no whispering… they are engrossed. My husband thinks we have been transported back 50 years to another era. And then we walk in the darkness and the silence back to the car. I’m certainly not in the big city anymore. I just seems so simple. And, people seem to enjoy it. Can I adapt?