Our Solar Grotto

For several years, we have had in our garden a motley selection of solar lights in the garden that came, at one time or another, from Pound Shops.

This year, many of the lights had failed over the winter. I think that traces of water around the O-ring seals had undergone repeated freeze-and-thaw cycles, and the expansion had slowly let more water in.

Normally, I would dismantle the electrics and electronics and try to repair the lights (maybe cannibalising one to mend another). But I didn't feel like doing it this year, partly because of pressure of time. Anyway, the lights were so cheap (guess how much they cost .... !), that I thought that replacing (some) of them was more cost-effective. Without my intending it, the replacement programme got a little out of hand, there being so many interesting and entertaining devices on offer.

After dark, we now have a rather charming "grotto" illuminated by the lights: some are white, some are blue, some inside "chinese lanterns", and so on. Our photograph today is an attempt to capture the spirit of the grotto. Even some of the garden furniture is illuminated. Nature's intended purpose for the table is as a support for bottles of beer, and the chairs are for humans to sit in so that they may sup the beer in comfort.