The red man and the green man lived in the traffic lights. They each had a job to do. The green man’s job was to tell people when it was safe to cross the road, and the red man’s job was to tell them when they had to stop and let the cars go past.

One day, the red man said to the green man, “I think it’s time for a holiday.”

“Good idea,” said the green man. “We’ve been working every single day and every single night for years and years. Where shall we go?”

“Let’s go to the seaside,” said the red man.

Finished by our winner Emily Culshaw, aged 9 from Crewe….

So they packed their suitcases with sun hats, sun cream, bucket and spade and the biggest, bounciest, blue inflatable ball you have ever seen.

“But how are we going to get there?” enquired the green man.

“We could travel by traffic light.” answered the red man. “We just need to send a message to the other lights that we are passing through… at the speed of light!”

They both gave a chuckle.

After many hours of traffic light jumping the red and green man arrived at the seaside. They had passed a sign which said ‘WELCOME to Blackpool, famous for its Illuminations!’

“Wow this is the place for us” said the red man, “at last some rest and relaxation.”

“I can’t wait to play with the ball on the beach” the green man added excitedly.

They went straight to the beach dodging the boisterous children on their summer holiday. The red and green man found a perfect spot, nestled between the donkeys and the ice-cream van.

The green man got out the big, bouncy, blue inflatable ball and played with whoops of delight. The red man got out his favourite book from his local libary and read it with peacefulness. “Ahhh this is the life” he sighed.

Everything was perfect untill…

“Red man, green man is that you!” shouted a voice from behind them. " I do hope it is you because I need two more lights to light my illuminations!"

“But we’re on holiday” the red man replied furiously. Why would he do jobs on his holiday he thought angrily.

" I think we need to do this red man" whispered the green man who had been listening all the time.

“Ok,” muttered the red man. “But only for one day!”

“Oh, Thank you, Thank you!” said the voice grateful for the red and green mans help.

The red man and green man were shown to their places in the illuminations. When the time came for the big switch on the red man and green man braced themselves.

“Wow!”
“Ohhhh!”
“Beautiful!”

The gasps of delight from the passing visitors made the red and green man very happy.

“We can make people happy!” said the red man in astonishment. This was a very different feeling, he had not felt like this before, as in his other job he seemed to make most people cross!

“I never knew I could do this,” said the red man as he turned to the green man. The green man was grinning from ear to ear. “Shall we stay?” asked the red man.

The green man nodded silently and contentedly.