Why So Blue?
Imagine, if you will, a town that wants to be a city that wants to be a metropolis, it could be any place in America, but it’s actually in Canada. Now imagine yourself standing in a corner in this city, and all around you the light is a mysterious unknown hue. Whether purple or blue, the jury is up in the air, and the only certainty you have is that you’re now in a dimension of time and space where the normal rules don’t apply, where tiresome cliches are still recycled for Internet kicks; you’re now in the LED zone.
Some say that at night when the residents are asleep, a crew of inter-dimensional prop-men appear and alter the hue of the light for their own nefarious purposes. Others believe it's the work of a mischievous child with the power to mind-control the lights for his own amusement. Some even posit that this spot is casting the blue-shifted shadow of an approaching dark star. Whatever the case may be, we now have blue lights glowing in this city.
Out of all possible explanations, the most accepted one is that this is a manufacturing defect. It is said, that the blue light is the actual natural color of the LEDs, but when they are coated with phospor, they shine white, making objects more discernable to our eyes. Here’s the rub of the matter, when the phospor coating fails, it’s true colours shine through, casting a blue light instead of white. Furthermore, urban lore experts say that if you chant "LED!" three times, then Cindy Lauper appears in the middle of the crosswalk and sings an 80s hit.
In typical attitude of the town-dwellers, they are taking the glitch (and the cost) in stride. After all, the LED lights are supposed to be lower maintenance and more energy efficient, so in the long run the good intentions will pay off. Besides, the blue lights give the area a cool vibe, some groovy residents say. Indeed. But perhaps these cool vibes are just the beginning of a multi-dimensional apocalypse that will leave the tax payers' souls and wallets scarred until the end of time as we travel through the royal blue spaces of the LED zone.
Sources
CBC: Why thousands of city street lights are turning purple
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/purple-street-lights-vancouver-1.6604599
Daily Hive
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/led-streetlights-purple-colour-light
Images by @litguru