Halloween

I have to admit to some editorial indecision here at The Secret Of Life about whether to stick purely to life-enhancing self-development posts or to also include amusing snippets of everyday life which don't have any obvious cosmic significance. But as the next main post is going to take a day or two and I had an entertaining Halloween, I might as well tell you about it. And after all, who am I to decide what is cosmically significant and what isn't?

I usually have mixed feelings about Trick or Treat. Partly this is because I've never been sure where to draw the line between a bit of harmless dressing up and demanding goods with menaces. And partly because we didn't have it when I was a kid, so my inner child is intensely annoyed that the kids of today are having all this fun. But never mind, I tend to buy in the sweets and grit my teeth in any case. Better that than a firecracker through the door.

I suppose the most annoying thing really is having to get up every ten minutes or so to answer the bloody door. I was complaining about this to Chris and she passed on a useful suggestion for spicing up the experience from my niece, Jo.

When you open the door to the Trick or Treaters, wear a mask, says Jo. A scary mask.

They're really not expecting it...

This seemed like a good idea, so I went to the local newsagents and bought myself a mask. To my delight, they had one based on Edvard Munch's The Scream: not as scary as the original, of course, but more redolent of nameless, unspeakable horror than your usual witch or devil might be. So I went back home and gleefully waited for the first lot of spookily dressed little kids to approach the front door.

All in all, I really enjoyed the evening. I felt like I was getting into the spirit of halloween, really living it, instead of just poking my head round the door and grudgingly offering sweets to outstretched grubby fingers. It took a fair bit of dexterity to get the mask on in time, but then I would open the door and spring out at the Trick or Treaters with waving arms and occasional fearful cries...

I have to say, the kids took it pretty much in their stride. But it terrified their parents.

And I realise now that I may have solved the problem of which photo to upload for my "About" page...

Comments

[Paul Vincent]

No firecrackers through the door with a lockable letterbox. And the look on their mischeivous little faces when they realise the firework isn't going to go through the letterbox, and it's about to go off... Oh how we laugh.

[Andy]

Sort of reminds me of when (in the days before '1471') we would ring people up then ask them what they wanted as if they'd rang us. Ahhhh, the winter nights simply flew by.

[Salvadore Vincent]

I find that a sign by the front of the house that reads "POLICE WARNING: A Paedophile Lives Here" makes for a quiet Halloween. To begin with, anyway...

[Secret Simon]

Thnaks to you all for your comments - and hi to Salvadore, whose own blog "Smaller Than Life" is currently hosting the world famous "Bathmatwatch", an internet phenomenon which is at least twice as exciting as Bill Oddie sitting in somebody's garden. Your suggestion for combating the Trick or Treat menace is creative, Salvadore, but I wonder if you've thought it through. It has made me realise, however, that at any other time of the year, keeping a bowl of sweets by the door to give to passing kids would be thought of as grooming.
Paul - Your suggestion shows promise, but the trouble is that if we keep our letterbox locked, we won't know where to phone for pizzas.
Andy - Ah yes, those were the days, were they not? And there was nothing quite like a game of Space Invaders on the Amstrad PCW.