I’ve lost the streetlight I wrote so longingly about a while back. From my favorite wicker chair on the back patio I used to be able to see a bright sodium streetlight over the next-door neighbor’s house. Until we installed patio lights around the back yard, that streetlight was the brightest thing you’d see at night, and I grew accustomed to enjoying the way it shone like a beacon over a cocktail or a nitecap.

It’s not as if the streetlight isn’t there anymore, it’s not as if the town decided to take it down – they didn’t – but evidently the town had money they felt they had to spend by the end of 2Q 2012, or found a more cost and energy-effecient solution, and they decided to replace all the sodium lamps with these new ghastly (ghostly is probably the more appropriate term) whitish flourescent lights that are extremely bright while not spreading their light around as far. But what’s worse is that they’re not as big as the other lamps were, so my my streetlight now lies pretty much hidden behind the neighbor’s roof.

It was kind of weird how efficient the replacement took. I mean, one night our whole subdivision had the orange-y sodium lamps, the next night everything was ghostly white. While they perform the most requisite duties any streetlight worth its salt is supposed to perform (lighting the streets), they’re just not as warm looking and inviting as the old ones. And now that my streetlight is no longer visible unless I stand up, the backyard viewing experience will never be the same. I’m just glad I got the accent lighting to at least provide some semblence of appeal to the eyes on an oppressively hot June evening.