From Chilling Halloween to Roaring Bonfires

Ghosts, witches, bats,and spells, this ghoulish time of year when the kids knock on the door demanding trick or treat, their faces hidden behind masks lit only from the spooky visage of a pumpkin lantern. Scary...and a modern phenomenon in this country. In our day... (a definate sign of aging here) we stayed at home and had a whale of a time biting at apples dangling from string, using our shoulders to hold them as our hands were tied behind our backs. Or we got soaked playing bob apple. If we were lucky a turnip was used for broth and we had the shell for the lantern. (Shades of Dickens here).

Can't help but wonder though, what the 'tricks' part involves with this new adopted way of 'doing' Holloween. If you don't manage to tip up with a sweet or bag of toffee, what are the consequences? Maybe the not knowing is the menacing part, ensuring that we are all stocked up with the goodies.

Love it or hate it, for most of us, if you enter into the spirit of the evening, it can be a lot of fun for the kids and when all's said and done you have the option of not answering the door!

Of course, grown ups can join in the fun and as I drove through town the other day, I saw this vision of a generously proportioned lady (estimated at about 16st I think) dressed as a witch, all in black, save for her lime green tights. As she was leaning into the boot of her car, head down and bottom up, a gust of wind blew up her skirt and confirmed that indeed she was wearing atights and not socks! The plumpness and roundness of that green derrier and those short chubby verdant legs with the pointed black hat and face at her other end was an image I would love to have caught. Angle and composition would have been just right. Aah, if only I'd had my camera handy!

Now my favorite event at this time of year is bonfire night, when we remember Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up the houses of parliament. I have never been a fan of burning his effigy but the pleasure of staring into a bonfire or feeling it's heat on a winter's night is such an evocative memory and for me is in the same class as the smell of baking bread or being the first one in the swimming pool, silently swimming before the splashes and ripples begin.

And the fireworks too! Now there is time before Nov 5th to have the camera perpared and ready for those glowing faces and sparkling, fizzing colors, no excuses. Well, that's if the rain keeps off.