For All to Enjoy

The Christmas entrance to Keith Nelson Dentists belies what lies within.

When is a dentistry not a dentistry? When it’s decked out in Christmas lights and has Santa’s little helper sitting on the porch. No one would suspect the butchery that goes on (just kidding folks, go to your oral care professional, best $2,000 you’ll spend).

The month of December may bring warm fuzzy feelings of glad tidings and great joy, but for Franklin Rd residents it also means hard work and monetary outflow to outfit their houses with lights. For makers of moving, LED encrusted, wire frame sculptures of reindeer, it also means justification for their businesses. Just to be clear, this is all done voluntarily (even if an angry mob persuades you to do something without threat, it is voluntary) with no commercial support despite many companies wishing otherwise.

This gesture of goodwill to the people of Auckland threatened to take a nasty turn for this year’s 20th anniversary; clearly not to anyone’s liking and certainly not Bill Ralston’s. The modest ‘switching on’ ceremony for the 20th year would eventually go ahead without the need for a permit or fee after successful lobbying by event organisers. While it may have been at no cost and a matter of ‘standard process’, a bad taste remains.

All’s well that ends well, however, and Len Brown certainly enjoyed himself at a resident’s premises while his chauffeur and heavy (big dude) kept watch outside. This, after the highlight of his evening; posing for photos with Kim Dotcom.