How lovely! The lights are so beautiful this time of year, aren’t they? I really, really love holiday lights. And in London especially, they really do know what they’re doing with the lights. I’ve been in London a couple of times during the holiday season and the Regent Street and Oxford Street lights are particularly special, they make you feel like you’re living in a rom-com, like you want to kiss a stranger, that’s how potent they are. 

 

In many cities and towns around the world, light displays are a regular holiday attraction for families. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the VanDusen Botanical Garden Festival of Lights is an annual tradition. In Niagara Falls, Ontario, about two hours outside of Toronto, the Winter Festival of Lights also happens every year and it’s definitely an experience, all those lights complemented by the rushing sound of the falls…

It’s been about six or seven years or so since I’ve gone to see them. And I’d love to do it this year but where I live, we’re on lockdown now and, well, there are restrictions. Are there no restrictions in England? 

The restrictions in England and here, in Ontario, are confusing. We are observing colour-coded levels of alert. Over in the UK they’re all about the tiers. Different regions are under different levels/tiers. I can understand why some of it hard to follow. So there’s been some confusion about a royal outing involving two royal households that happened on Sunday.

 

Prince William, Kate, and their three children were touring a Christmas attraction at Sandringham when they hooked up with Prince Edward, Sophie, and their two children, “inadvertently” turning themselves into a group of nine when there’s a “rule of six” that’s supposed to be observed. The Daily Mail has the photos: 

Some are saying that the Cambridges and the Wessexes did nothing wrong because at Sandringham there’s a different level of alert or whatever – like I said, I can understand how from town to town and district to district, it can be confusing. What’s more interesting to me is how the British tabloids seem to be bending over backwards and doing the most media gymnastics to divert criticism. Would they were it another royal couple? As Omid Scobie points out: 

 

And, on top of that, particularly where Prince William is concerned, his last few weeks of COVID compassion and caring performance has been… not as successful as he might have hoped? He stepped out a few weeks ago with the Queen without a mask. After that it came out that he had COVID-19 early on in the pandemic and didn’t tell the public at the time. Then he and Kate went on a royal train mini-tour which received medium reviews because so many people are restricted from travelling and Scottish leaders released statements all like, “Um, we really weren’t all that excited about them coming”. The tour ended at Windsor Castle with a royal group photo in which all senior members of the British royal family posed without masks on just as case numbers were rising alarmingly in England after lockdown was lifted – which is what necessitated the current return to restrictions. 

And now, now as the country braces for a holiday surge in infections, not to mention reports of some mutant strain of COVID-19 that’s apparently spreading rapidly throughout London and southeast England, here’s William and his family, hooking up with other family members for a Christmas promenade through the trails, marveling at the pretty lights…

And, really, when your job is to set an example, to uphold certain standards, is this really a good look right now?!? 

Has it been a good look for House Cambridge the last few months? 

Will and Kate have been sold as the model royals, remember? They do everything right! They’re never sloppy…

Oh but hasn’t there been some sloppiness recently? It’s been a little sloppy, don’t you think?