Now that Hyson Green doesn't have the iconic statue of The Old General (or indeed the pub) dressed as Santa every year, my favourite sight of Christmas has to be the window display. Not for me the elegance and fastidiousness of the John Lewis display, but one that I hope fills the gap in the hearts of all of those people who fondly remember The Old General. I still occasionally get stopped in the street for a chat about it thanks to my campaigning a few years ago, so I may push forward to get the subject of this blog given the same status. On Radford Road there is a hardware shop, a proper old fashioned 'four candles' type of place with a proprietor who always has a pencil behind his ear. Every year he decorates his windows for the festive season in a post industrial minimalist style. If enough people say 'post industrial minimalist style' then eventually the arty-farty set will start to believe it and possibly give the old man some kind of award, it's certainly better than some of the guff they exhibit at Nottingham Contemporary. It is actually just a few bits that have been placed in the window but I look forward to it every year because there is something reassuring about it.
I can't think of a time that I have ever seen a customer in this shop, and assume that the owner owns the shop outright with no mortgage or rent to worry about. He doesn't seem to worry about his lack of trade and is usually seen late at night working on something, more often than not being watched by his cats who sit in the window. My dad, on his way back from our house to his, saw him working away at about half past one in the morning in the early hours of New Year's Day once. There has been one occasion when I have been in the shop, I can't remember what I needed as I am hardly a DIY fanatic but what I do remember is that he knew exactly what I wanted, where in his messy shop it was, and charged me 10p. This old man might not drip business acumen but as long as he continues to make his window look Christmassy then long may he stay.
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