Christmas Town - not left "feeling aglow"

The "Neat Marketing" company website promises - "Holiday Spirit Abounds as you wander through Christmas Town, you'll be immersed in a world of festive decorations, and the warmth of fellow revelers (spelt wrong) sharing in the joy of the season. It's a place where the magic of Christmas is alive in every corner. Join us at Christmas Town and create treasured memories with your loved ones. Come one, come all, and experience the wonder of the holidays in a way that will leave your heart aglow with the spirit of Christmas. Don't miss this chance to make your holiday season truly unforgettable!

Sorry to spoil the Christmas cheer - but how wrong could you get it guys?

Two years ago we attended the "Festival of Lights" at Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens - it was spectacular, well organised, clean, with good facilities, lots of people, lots of Christmas lights etc - a memorable evening indeed.

Based on that "feel good" memory - this year my wife and I took our 3 x grandkids - R500 entrance (no pensioners discount).

Surprised at the few cars in the carpark - one's immediate thoughts were that it was a reflection of good South African folk just struggling to make ends meet in this tough economy - however an hour later I changed my mind about the empty car park and put the reasons rather to something more tangible - like just a not well organised event that was turning folk away - or leaving early.

I felt for the stall owners and car guards who had their own opinion of this event that echoed my thoughts exactly - or for the couple leaving at the same time as us with their baby, grumbling about the waste of money - also expecting what they remembered from 2 years earlier.

Without going into morbid detail - they just got the simple basics wrong. Like the lack of Christmas lights - only a very few, rather tragically lonely ones, scattered about 100 metres apart, one dustbin to service a huge area and the reason for the amount of ******* left lying around, warm cooldrinks, smelly toilets, terrible PA system and some young staff doing a pretty sad job of entertaining a handful of kids.

My impression was that the whole event was under budgeted and the organisers were hoping no one would notice.

I have given one star for the event but have given two more stars just because the natural beauty of the botanical gardens makes up for it. My sincere thanks to the kind security person who tried to help me find a dustbin to throw my picnic ******* in, and who actually took my ******* to the bin for me when they saw how far away it was - really appreciated!

Hopefully lessons have been learnt and that next year it is more successful than this year - although that should not be too difficult to achieve.