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Times must be tough.
Ever since the energy crisis began to rear its ugly head, there've been frenzied whispers of Christmas lights being powered by vegetable oil, blackouts and of course, the grim prospect of 'having no Christmas at all'.
Fast forward to now and while the Christmas chandeliers are still twinkling all along the
✨Grafton Quarter✨, they're using low energy bulbs which will be switched off slightly earlier each night. While there's a definite push to keep spirits up and shopping districts bustling after an extremely difficult few years for Irish businesses, with mounting energy bills and a cost-of-living crisis there's no getting around the fact that we'll have to be extremely careful with our spending this year.
And that would appear to include whoever's responsible for sourcing the Ranelagh village Christmas tree, which went up this week - looks like they got 50% off, literally.
Akin to an Instagram model's curly blowdry, the tree looks great from one vantage point - just don't ask to see the back. It's a bit like when Homer debuted his new snatched body to Marge - achieved by securing his back fat with rubber bands and clips behind the scenes.
Not to state the obvious, but we're all thinking it - if one of the most affluent villages in Dublin is scrimping on its Christmas deccos, what's to become of the rest of us? Discarded twigs in lieu of trees? Rolled up tinfoil to substitute baubles?
We'll just have to wait and see what the festive szn brings.
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