After eight years of putting on one of Australia’s best Christmas displays Gavin Lockwood packed up the 80 000 fairy lights that drew pilgrims to his suburban Sydney home and set off to see how the rest of the world celebrated his favourite time of the year.
”I used to take the whole of November off work and basically turn the house into a grotto,” he told national broadcaster ABC in a telephone interview from London.
”Eight years in a row was a big commitment and it was time for a change, time to give my family a break too because they helped me set it up each year.”
Lockwood claims that it was ”just plain coincidence” that his first job on leaving Australia was in the Christmas section of world famous Harrods department store in Knightsbridge.
”I was hunting around on a website for a job and it just came up,” he claimed.
Lockwood sailed through the interview after giving a presentation on the annual transformation back home in Sydney that ”shocked and amazed” the Harrods recruiters.
So this Christmas, Santa’s biggest fan is back creating twinkling vistas and brightening lives.
”It was a dream job and it still is,” he bubbled. ”I’ll never get sick of Christmas.” – Sapa-DPA