We were doing very well with our humble little string of solar powered Christmas lights until the gardner snipped the wire from the solar panel today when trimming some of the bushes in the garden.

Fortunately, he cut them on an angle, so even by torchlight I could work out which wire needed to be joined to which other one of the three in the strand. I hope that my twisted joins and sealing with red insulation tape last through to beyond Christmas.

I have to say that we are hardly any competition for some of the neighbouring houses that must be running their very extensive lighting off their own nuclear power station.

Oh well, it’s all in the spirit of Christmas!