Lit up, het up

● Gene Halliwell spares no expense in lighting up his house at Christmas. His home, in the US town of Fairfield, Connecticut, stands on Roseville Terrace and his electrical extravagance is known as “Wonderland on Roseville”. Now in its 18th year, it drew 30 000 visitors last year. This year he has had to tone down the display after 40 neighbours signed a petition complaining about parking problems created by the hordes coming to see the light show. Police had to step in to calm tempers, caused by the parking problems of street residents. As part of a deal between the neighbours and Halliwell, police agreed to a temporary parking ban on one side of the street. Halliwell also agreed to turn off the lights an hour earlier — by 9pm on weekdays — and to turn down the volume on a loop of the theme song from the animated film Frozen. One visitor, however, now plans to move to Roseville Terrace. Olia Yelneer, an attorney, said she was considering moving there from a nearby suburb to “look out on the lights each evening”.