The Lamppost That Was.

A tale of loss and potential danger, war and Christmas lights. Monthly prompt included.

The abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard sparked fury in the UK in March of 2021. Not least because the man who committed this terrible act was a serving officer with London’s Metropolitan police force.

Hers was by no means the only rape and/or murder case in the last eighteen months, there is a long list forming in my mind as I type, but this is probably the one which attracted the most media coverage.

Also, the date roughly coincides with the removal of our lamppost. There will be more on that later.

Moving forward to a more recent moment:

At a time when all focus is on energy prices and potential blackouts over winter, due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, we now have Christmas lights. Put up by the very council which deemed we were to be plunged into darkness. There is a large decoration which spans the road through the village. It goes up every year. It’s gone up this year. Not only that, for the past week, once it goes dark the light goes on. Already! It is only the end of November!

Not even December yet and this so-called Christmas decoration (and all the others in the surrounding towns and villages) can be seen blazing away from around 4pm, every day. It turns off in the early hours of the morning.

That’s somewhere going on twelve whole hours of electric light which will be seen by hardly anyone.

How much electricity is this going to use before it stops lighting up after the holidays? For around a whole month. Tally up all of the decorations in the area. Multiply that, how much electricity is going to be used by our local council alone? How much is it going to cost them? Don’t they have better things to spend that money on? (The answer is yes, they absolutely do!).

Are we, a family of people with ill health and disabilities, going to have to put up with blackouts (planned and/or unplanned) for hours on end over winter, with no light and no heat over the long dark winter months? Other households with older family members, sicker, more disabled, with babies and very young children?

How does the amount of electric used on decorations measure up to the amount we would need to power our homes for at least some of those blackout hours?

I do realise that there are people who are vastly worse off than us, who don’t have any electricity at all; who don’t have home; who are being bombed and shot at; who have lost family and friends — slaughtered on the streets where they lived; in their own homes; defending their families; sent to be ‘cannon fodder’ on the front lines of a war they don’t want to be part of.

There are people starving and homeless all over the world, here in the UK — and I’m complaining about some cheery, uplifting Christmas lights?!

This is the very thing though. That’s exactly the problem. I’m not really complaining about the one bright decoration I can see from my front windows.

I’m complaining about PRIORITIES, and the fact that these sparkling lights seem such a short-sighted, badly thought out, idea.

Yes, it’s tradition. Yes, they go up every year. Yes, they’ll raise a few smiles and maybe brighten a few days. Long-term though? On a wider scale global perspective? Yes. There are so many much more necessary things that the money being spent on lighting these lights for a whole month could be spent on. I already mentioned that our government and power companies are making plans to potentially introduce countrywide, enforced power cuts for hours at a time each day over the coldest part of winter. They are projecting that there will be a need to introduce these plans in order to ease the demand on dwindling supplies, because Russia — no, let’s put the blame exactly where it belongs, Putin is causing havoc because he wants to be the head of a European Empire before he dies.

The money and electricity being spent on a month of Christmas lights throughout this Western, First World country, could go towards avoiding those power cuts.

It could even go towards feeding all the people relying on foodbanks, helping people off the streets and into somewhere warm over winter.

There might be a little left over to help settle the flood of Ukranian refugees — and also a few Russian dissidents and COs (Conscientious Objectors).

Or maybe, some of the money our local council had squirrelled away for this could have been spent on maintaining or replacing the streetlight that once stood at the end of our path, illuminating the narrow pavement and dark road leading down into the centre of the village.

As I wrote at the beginning of this essay, Sarah Everard was murdered in London — and the reader would be forgiven for thinking I had gone off on a total tangent. I mean, it’s not like it’s never happened before.

However, Sarah Everard was not the only woman to be attacked, beaten, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, raped or murdered in the UK.

How many violent attacks and sexual assaults on women are there? — BBC News

It’s probably more likely that this might happen in a city. Also true, but certainly not universally so.

As I’ve mentioned before in another piece of writing, the man responsible for Sarah Everard’s murder had lived near me not so long ago, and worked for the CNC, or ‘Sellafield Police’ as they’re known locally: an armed private security force protecting a nuclear site.

I’m not unsympathetic to the issue of light pollution in more rural areas either. In fact I agree, mostly. That streetlight however, stood sentry over people walking into or out of the village, illuminating at least one small stretch of pavement and road, making traffic accidents less likely.

Most importantly to me, that muted yellow glow gave me a little (albeit limited and short-lived) sense of safety when I needed to go to my car or take my dog out after dark.

As some of you might know, if you’ve read some of my other work, I’ve lived through the experience of abduction and rape myself. My case wasn’t high profile though. Who knows, it might have been if I had reported it, but I didn’t. I told no-one. I hadn’t told a soul until I began writing about my various trauma-inducing experiences here on Medium.

So, while my ramblings around the subject of one single lamppost and my strident objection to a bit of Christmas cheer may seem superficial, unreasonable and like ‘First World Problems’ — that light by my gate represented a little more to me than you might have first thought. Safety is important. Even just the illusion of safety can at least help keep you calmer.

The Prompt Section

For the last few months, I’ve been writing essays, poetry and prompts which have all circled around celebrations, festivals, socially/culturally projected ideas of what we should do and hold dear….and the differences we often find between those things, and what we actually do value and want to spend any of our limited time and money upon.

I’ve been asking you all to dig down deep into your psyches, your memories and your often hidden thoughts and feelings which conflict with the generally accepted and the expected ideas and beliefs.

I’ve been spending time thinking about how we can encourage our collective group of writers to open their minds and hearts, to further embrace the ‘Counter’ aspect of Counter Arts.

Therefore, the task I’m giving you for the month of December (should you choose to accept it), is to explore with us some of the more contrary, hidden, corners of your hearts and minds. Open them up, have a rummage around, see if you can unfold a thought or preference which runs Counter to the perceived wisdom of what is ‘the right thing’ in your culture, religion or society. Or even in your family, community or friendship group.

It doesn’t have to be a shocking confession. Though it can be, if you are comfortable with that! You could also start smaller though — maybe with a painting, song or film you like that has been generally slated (or vice versa). Absolutely anything really, so long as you write it well and write respectfully; and as usual we’ll be equally happy to accept both poetry and fiction submissions at Rainbow Salad, or nonfiction stories, articles and essays at Counter Arts. This prompt will be shared, I’ll link each piece/publication to the other below:

To get us going (I can only hope) I’m tagging a few writers:

Will Hull — Marc Barham — Reece Beckett — Carlos Garbiras — Napoleon — Bob Merckel — Kamna Kirti — Angelina Der Arakelian — Dr Victoria Powell — Harry Stefanakis — Charles G. Haacker — Jackie Olsen — Patrick Crawford — Christopher Massimine — Miyah Byrd — Raine Lore — Jess the Avocado — Laura Halls — Allie Funk — Mariam Dalhoumi, PhD — Greyson Ferguson — Hogan Torah — aleXander hirka — Remington Write — Amanda Laughtland — Margie Willis — Moony Thinker — Natalie — Roo Benjamin — Sally Prag — Susan Wheelock — Fox Kerry — Vic Spandrio

Thank you for your continued reading, writing and commenting.

If you enjoy my writing, you might consider leaving a ‘Tip’, or signing up for Medium membership through my referral link here. Many thanks and much love — Sadie