Christmas late night shopping

For such a small town (population 2500) there is a lot going on.  Every year we have the late night shopping and switching on of the Christmas lights.  We meet in the square, the mayor says something virtually undecipherable through a megaphone, the Brownies/Rainbows sing some carols, we count down from 10, and the tree lights get switched on.  Only this year we counted down from 10, back up to 10 and beyond that but still there were no lights.

It turned to be a bit of a dark evening.  We wandered into town (via a few mince pies and drinks) where we noticed a Policeman dressed in the usual black trying to direct the traffic but with no high-visibility vest.  (Plus a rare sight of the eldest daughter actually trying to get into a photograph for a change.)

Some local wag sneaked behind the policeman further up the road, into his car, and set off the siren.  I guess that he had previous knowledge of the inside of  a Police car to find the switch so quickly!

Many of the shops are open and providing free food and drink.  I went into the chemist to buy some toothpaste and came out with a cup of sherry, a sweet and a mince pie!  Luvit provide a treasure hunt to spot things in shop windows for the children.

The main shopping road is closed and the local Samba band do their bit.  

Santa is conveniently positioned in a grotto above a pub so the dads can have a drink whilst the children queue up.

Presents are free and Santa's grotto is really quite elaborate.

Of course I didn't take these photographs, I was downstairs having a drink!