How would you like to have a sculpture of you, dressed only in bra, pants, suspenders and high-heeled shoes, in the middle of your living room? This is Angela's fate in life as one day while she was away, husband Kevin decided to make a model of her, based on a favourite photo.
Kevin has become something of a local celebrity: a frustrated artist who never had the chance to go to Art School, he stops the local traffic, literally, with the huge displays he designs and mounts outside his house every Christmas. This year he's created several elves which are sitting inside a car which motors round a small circuit.
"I don't mind small things like the dogs," says Angela, "but when it comes to full-size reindeers and Father Christmases it gets a bit much. I have scaffolders around here erecting scaffolding and he's out there in his shed and doesn't come in until 10.00 pm."
But Kevin is unrepentant. "I get great enjoyment out of it. I get the police force, the ambulance service, the disabled children, everyone comes round for a look. I'm forced to do it now!"
Angela has learnt to live with the attention. "When we first moved into this area it was mainly old people who lived here who were quite set in their ways. I think they looked on Kevin as some kind of gypsy! Now they wave him off to work. The only problem is they're so busy looking at the display, they're not looking where they're driving and we've had a couple of knocked cars!"
Kevin swears this will be the last year he'll be making his displays because they're just too big and it's all getting too much for him.
