Blame the Bid
It is coming up to December and various London streets ought to be illuminated with bright, sparkly, often naff but sometimes tasteful lights. In the West End, Regent Street has all the Christmas glitz: blue and red with sparkling icicles, Santas, reindeer and the characters from The Incredibles.
Bond Street is its usual elegant, restrained, tasteful Christmas self. But whatever happened to Oxford Street?
Instead of gay and glitzy lights it is lined with extraordinarily ugly arches that look like the whole street is covered with building works and the sky above it is strafed with laser beams as if they were searching for enemy aircraft.
The beams vary in colour: white, red, green, silver, purple and occasionally go into techno mode. The one thing they are not is festive. The other thing they are not is attractive.
I blame the bid and not just because UKIP in the London Assembly seems to be obsessed with the subject.
This ghastly set-up appeared just before the final bid went in for the 2012 Olympic Games and was described as part of that highly expensive but so far not very accurately accounted for exercise. “Hisonner” the Mayor seems to have persuaded the Oxford Street traders’ organization to produce those arches and those beams, though, if truth be told, they will all suffer if London does get the Games, through higher taxes and lost revenue as people stay away in droves.
Of course, even Oxford Street cannot pay for two lots of lights in one year. At least, we assume they are paying for this monstosity. So, the Back the Bid lights have had to serve as Christmas decoration.
Not that anyone has noticed that this is Christmas. People are wondering around, scratching their heads, pointing to the beams, puzzled at the whole thing. At either end of Oxford Street there are notices welcoming visitors to the Oxford Street lights. As I recall, in past years one knew the lights were there without any notices.
Roll on the day we lose the bid to some other, better organized city, like Paris. We can go back to real life, the way it is lived by Londoners.
Bond Street is its usual elegant, restrained, tasteful Christmas self. But whatever happened to Oxford Street?
Instead of gay and glitzy lights it is lined with extraordinarily ugly arches that look like the whole street is covered with building works and the sky above it is strafed with laser beams as if they were searching for enemy aircraft.
The beams vary in colour: white, red, green, silver, purple and occasionally go into techno mode. The one thing they are not is festive. The other thing they are not is attractive.
I blame the bid and not just because UKIP in the London Assembly seems to be obsessed with the subject.
This ghastly set-up appeared just before the final bid went in for the 2012 Olympic Games and was described as part of that highly expensive but so far not very accurately accounted for exercise. “Hisonner” the Mayor seems to have persuaded the Oxford Street traders’ organization to produce those arches and those beams, though, if truth be told, they will all suffer if London does get the Games, through higher taxes and lost revenue as people stay away in droves.
Of course, even Oxford Street cannot pay for two lots of lights in one year. At least, we assume they are paying for this monstosity. So, the Back the Bid lights have had to serve as Christmas decoration.
Not that anyone has noticed that this is Christmas. People are wondering around, scratching their heads, pointing to the beams, puzzled at the whole thing. At either end of Oxford Street there are notices welcoming visitors to the Oxford Street lights. As I recall, in past years one knew the lights were there without any notices.
Roll on the day we lose the bid to some other, better organized city, like Paris. We can go back to real life, the way it is lived by Londoners.
posted by Helen at 10:13 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home