Nov 08 2006
Winter Lights on McGill-College Avenue
The winter lights have been set up on McGill-College Avenue. I mentioned this on Flickr last week when I posted the image, below, and Frank mentioned that it was OK because it was within the “60-day rule.”
I do tend to think that most holiday lighting appears too soon and stays around too long, and I think Frank is being generous. If it were up to me, I’d modify the 60-day rule to be a 30-day rule. In fact, when it comes to decorations in shopping malls, I’d even cut it down to 15 days if I could.
But these lights on McGill-College are different. They aren’t explicitly “Christmassy” or “holidayish.” They’re just really pretty. I love those lights, and I always look forward to seeing them at the end of a winter day when I leave the office. It’s a beautiful and refreshing illumination in the otherwise dark and cold evening. It’s always kind of sad when they take them down in January (or is it February?)
I therefore grant these lights a reprieve from the 60-day rule. If it were up to me (or if I were blessed with the seemingly autocratic privileges of Mayor Tremblay), I’d leave those lights up until the end of March. (After that we’re too eager for spring to find anything wintery even remotely appealing.)
15 Comments on “Winter Lights on McGill-College Avenue”
They are beautiful… they give corporate McGill College such a magical feel.
If I were to apply a 60- or 30-day rule to anything, it would have to be playing holiday carols in shopping malls. How do the people who work there stand it?
what a nice photo on a gray, clammy day. seriously. and another six weeks before the “longest night of the year”.
thanks for the warm fuzzies. it’s small things like those lights (and the occasional fake-bake, for the warmth) that get me _through_ our winters…
:-D
Susan, you’re so right about those Christmas carols! There should be a FIVE DAY rule on that stuff!
I’m glad other people like the lights too. I actually work on that street, so I seem them almost every evening in the winter.
BTW, in case you’re wondering, the top photo was taken last week, and the bottom photo (with the snow) was taken last winter.
Awk! Forget the lights! Just look at how god-awful beautiful the McGill campus and Mount Royal are! Walking around in it every day (as the days get shorter and the wind colder), you forget how wonderful the Fall is here.
I’d vote for you for sure!
I used to work on McGill College, and even though my brain says “what a waste of electricity”, my heart understands how necessary those lights are, really, to our common morale. (My heart agrees with my head on all the office lights left on all night downtown, though!)
As for the carols in the malls… 5 days is still too generous. And I’ve often wondered, along with Susan, how the people who work there can stand it and not go postal. Is it because of the lights? Are the mall workers ready to pick up a shotgun, but then they walk out for a smoke break before their rampage, and they see the McGill College lights and say to themselves “Golly that’s pretty. Too pretty to kill anyone today!”? I think I’m on to something here!
i’m all for a 30-day limit when it comes to christmas decorations, music, etc., but lights? honestly, i think holiday lights should be kept up from october to march. it’s 4:50pm and already dark, and we still have six weeks to go until solstice. we *need* light. really, one of the things that make november and december so bearable is that the streets are all lit up like some fantasyland. it’s so sad in january when the lights come down even though the days just keep getting colder and drearier.
I also think 60 days is way too long!! Right after Halloween already bombarded with xmas stuff everywhere!
December 1st is good.
Someone on my street was putting up his Christmas lights today… An old grandpa. Tonight I walked by and the lights were on. It does look cute but man! It’s way too early!!!
I agree that 60 is too long especially on the front end, but that 60-day legislation would be a start. On the day I posted about that last year there were still about three or four houses on our street that still had lights going. And I completely agree about keeping white lights up in trees and bushes all winter. Darkness is probably the worst part of winter and those lights are at least some bit of consolation.
BTW, I know nothing about Cascading Style Sheets.
The only good thing about the darkness is that it makes the pretty lights look nicer. :-)
Frank… what do Cascading Style Sheets have to do with this?
I love twinkly lights. I never took my tiny fake Christmas tree off my TV this year and I just lit it again the other day. I envy those shops that sell Christmas stuff all year round. I love twinkly lights!
Very pretty indeed!
Sorry, the link to my name above in the post points to an article about CSS. Thanks for the link. I have bookmarked it for when I make the jump to running a less user-friendly space on the web. Netmechanic’s explanations seem like it will be easier to understand all this code.
Whoops! My bad. Serves me right for not double-checking my links! (I’ve fixed it…)
Speaking of lights, I have a new post on my blog that sort of deals with the McGill College holiday lights.
http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2006/11/13/turn-on-the-lights/