Friday, October 31, 2014

obligatory Halloween thing

hi there

well, and why not, look you see.

as the day today, or more specifically the evening i suppose, was/is Halloween, we did indeed engage in the celebration shenanigans that are part and parcel of this most interesting of days on the standard calendar.

this Halloween business was never really all that big in South Africa. the lifestyle and the ultra high security layout of most homes pretty much precludes children going from door to door. even with Stumpie safely in prison, there are many people with guns that are likely to shoot first, second, third and ask questions only when it is clear they can't hide the body. and, indeed, people - animals, if you like - who would do a good deal worse than shoot.

in some of the safer areas - like, for instance, where athletes who have a random approach to just how disabled they are do not live - the kids can go around and do it in safety. James and William never had the chance, really, and nor did for that matter my (considerably) better half. so off they went.



i am hearing a lot of people here, of my age, are going around saying this like Halloween "was not a big deal" when we were kids. this is nonsense. OK, here in England now it might be a lot more along the lines of American styles of decorations, parties and pumpkin carving than it was back in time, but i assure you Halloween was very much a thing. as kids we did indeed all go off trick or treating.

we always got smart sweets too, as it happens. proper sweets, not them American "candy" things. anyway, the point is, all these people saying that as kids in the 70s and 80s we never "did" Halloween, stop it, for we most decidedly did.

modern technology, of course, allows me to send these images around the world within moments of them being taken. this meant that i could send them to the whole family. thus far Richard has replied, and his response came in the form of a most smart picture.



no, that's not the most smart picture he sent, that's another smart one, one that i thought the Richard enthusiasts would appreciate. Richard enthusiasts and Grant enthusiasts have probably been very disappointed with the lack of pictures of either of them of late, so there you go! the really smart picture he sent is one that is too naughty to feature here, but i did pass it on to Spiros.

back to Halloween business, and the three who had not experienced it before, who happen to be the three from my family that you all actually like the most, went off out and about to trick or treat.



quite an impressive haul they got, too. there are many generous people living around here. if any of them are reading this for some reason, thank you!

a big well done, too, to all the kids who came knocking on our door. i hope the sweets were as good as their costumes were; some truly very impressive outfits on display!

speaking of impressive outfits, my (considerably) better half. there are all sorts of comments i could make here along the lines of "what's the difference for her dressing as a witch on Halloween and dressing every day" that would prompt the humorous, yet bitter-sweet truth of an answer "nothing", but that would be entirely inappropriate for me to do and i would probably get battered for doing so.

i won't do that then, and nor shall i say something childish about how she is quite nicely evolving into my beloved mother-in-law either. instead, marvel away at her outrageous, class outfit.



nice work! very smart, and the purple broom is a nice touch. as are the purple gloves, hat and all bits that are not the standard black.

anyway, i can only hope and trust that your Friday - whether a Halloween one or just a doing nothing special one, was a splendid, ace, wonderful one!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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