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BS: Halloween
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Dave the Gnome Date: 01 Nov 22 - 04:32 AM We had loads and eventually ran out of sweets! It had started chucking it down by then though so we got no more :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 01 Nov 22 - 03:58 AM I was relieved not to have any Trick-or-Treaters hammering on my door last night. There were plenty of children (and teenagers!) running around outside in various weird costumes, but they sensibly banged only on doors which had lit pumpkins and other decorations displayed. I was grateful for their consideration. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Donuel Date: 31 Oct 22 - 09:36 PM Only had 7 candy takers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Steve Shaw Date: 31 Oct 22 - 07:38 PM No bloody tricksters around here tonight. It's pissing down and blowing a hooley. Heheh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Dave the Gnome Date: 31 Oct 22 - 11:45 AM Last year I emptied some of the soil/compost mixture from a box in the back garden on to the front lawn in anticipation of sweeping it in for the autumnal worms. It makes a good 'grave' and with the addition of a large wooden cross that was used as a temporary gravestone many years ago (don't ask) and some plastic bones it looked quite realistic. I have done the same for tonight :-) We also have a colour changing smart bulb by the front door which I shall set to green Mwahahahaha |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Stilly River Sage Date: 31 Oct 22 - 11:07 AM The gigantic "Skelly" skeleton from Home Depot has been joined by stacked Styrofoam pumpkins (they just sit there) and a muscular werewolf that is motion activated to light its eyes, chomp its jaws, growl, and end with a howl. This is in the yard of a house a block up the hill from me. Damned noisy thing that I was concerned might scare the dogs when we were out walking at dusk. They ignored it but I found it a bit unsettling. Poor neighbors living on either side of that house. That ripped Home Depot werewolf has become the new Halloween flex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Donuel Date: 31 Oct 22 - 10:11 AM El Dia de los Muertos goes back to the Aztecs, who had not just a few days but an entire month dedicated to the dead. Festivities were presided over by the goddess Mictecacihuatl . The annual rite features skeletons, altars and other trappings of death, but the ancient holiday celebrates life in its embrace of death. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Stanron Date: 31 Oct 22 - 06:18 AM "After all, Halloween was originally the Eve of All Hallows - not a 'dress up like a daft Disney character and demand sweets from grumpy old ladies' night! " Hear, (absolutely) Hear! Incidentally, check this out; https://grammarist.com/spelling/hear-hear/ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 31 Oct 22 - 05:54 AM Lady-across-the-road has hoisted a gigantic Halloween flag on her huge flagpole, and stuck large pumpkin pictures on all her front windows. She's new to this village, so I hope she's prepared for all the banging on her door this evening, and has a large pot of sweets for the demanding children that will surely arrive. I'm hoping nobody will trouble me, as it makes me nervous. In the supermarkets this weekend, we saw so much expensive tat for sale, costumes, masks, model ghosts, witches and so on. Entire aisles selling commercial rubbish. But our beautiful Norman church will be holding a special service on Wednesday for people who wish to remember someone much-loved who has passed away. (All Souls Day). After all, Halloween was originally the Eve of All Hallows - not a 'dress up like a daft Disney character and demand sweets from grumpy old ladies' night! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: MaJoC the Filk Date: 30 Oct 22 - 01:53 PM > At least, a convention seems to have sprung up in recent years that > those who welcome T&Ters display Halloween decorations, and those who > don't, don't. That might explain why we don't get T&Ters any more; Herself's even given up baking gingerbread in preparation. I thought it was just that all the children round here have grown out of the demanding-sweets-with-menaces stage. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 30 Oct 22 - 08:42 AM Lights out and no pumpkin outside, otherwise our greyhound goes crazy. It's bad enough with thoughtless scum letting of deafening fireworks up to 2 weeks before Guy Fawkes night. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Donuel Date: 30 Oct 22 - 08:10 AM spooky |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: BobL Date: 23 Oct 22 - 07:23 AM Oops! I pretty much repeated my post of four years ago. I'm getting like that - an age thing I'm afraid. At least, a convention seems to have sprung up in recent years that those who welcome T&Ters display Halloween decorations, and those who don't, don't. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Kim C Date: 22 Oct 22 - 10:02 PM I love Halloween! We lived in a secluded house for a long time & had no trick-or-treaters. When we bought our little house in 2015, we had quite a few that first year, but it's dropped off since. There aren't many little kids in the neighborhood anymore, but I'll still be ready. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: BobL Date: 19 Oct 22 - 02:38 AM Last time I was trick-or-treated, I just said "you can have the trick" and fired my starting pistol. Word must have got around: I've never been bothered since. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Neil D Date: 18 Oct 22 - 09:09 PM You're lucky Senoufou. When I was a kid the people who chose to not be home, or to sit in the dark pretending to not be home, were the ones who got the tricks. This was usually a window whited out with a bar of paraffin, much harder to remove than soap. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 18 Oct 22 - 04:17 AM Over the years in this village we've put out our carved and candlelit pumpkins, and bought quantities of sweets for the children. But they used to hammer loudly on the glass in our front door as if the Police were arriving! And then greedily grab as many sweets as their hands could hold. It got a bit annoying frankly, and we stopped doing it. Now that I live alone, I don't want this, and luckily if there are no decorations or lit pumpkins at the house, nobody knocks for 'trick or treat'. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: BobL Date: 18 Oct 22 - 03:26 AM Some folks down my street have had Halloween stuff up for days. They must have a wonky calendar. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Oct 22 - 12:18 PM Ooooo! Here's a nice creepy real-life story just in time for Halloween! Taking Another Look at The Watcher—What we know about the case four years later. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 Oct 22 - 11:58 AM In the northern tier states weather is looking super-seasonal - there will be a freezing cold snap that moves into the upper reaches of the south (touching Arkansas but not Louisiana, etc.) The long-range forecast here is a high of 78o on Halloween, so now that most people have little concept of the COVID risk, there may be trick or treaters. I will again keep the lights off, turn off the motion-detector lights on the front and side doors, and hunker down with the dogs. I lost 45 pounds this year. I don't bring junk food into the house much these days, and am not about to shoot myself in the foot with Halloween candy. Munching even the little pieces adds up to a slippery slope to weight gain. In past years I've bought things I didn't like to give out, but it's too much of a barking scrum at the door and I don't want to lock the dogs in a back room to hand out unfavorite treats. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 17 Oct 22 - 03:13 AM Yesterday, in several supermarkets, we noticed some really horrible Halloween goods - gruesome masks and costumes. I understand that children like to scare and shock, but some of these were beyond the pale in our opinion. Also, in spite of it being only October, that blooming Elf on the Shelf thing was on sale all over the place. I had to explain to husband what parents do with Elf on the Shelf, and he thought it was a crazy idea. (In Africa, children are so well-behaved. And an Elf would be viewed as 'sorcery' and much frowned upon. Ditto the weird Halloween stuff.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 16 Oct 22 - 10:58 AM It's halfway through the month of October, so Halloween is around the corner. For the first time I heard that the American celebration of Halloween owes much to the Celts/UK/Irish migrations. If I had known where to look, the Mudcat probably could have told me as much, earlier than this. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: EBarnacle Date: 02 Nov 20 - 12:27 PM Here's a more dignified approach to the aftermath of Halloween--The Day of the Dead. https://www.npr.org/2020/11/02/928253894/la-latinos-mark-el-d-a-de-los-muertos-in-a-nightmare-year-of-loss |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 01 Nov 20 - 01:09 PM Today we went 'up the city' (into Norwich) to a supermarket we especially like, and were quite shocked to see smashed-up pumpkins in the gutters all over the place down the residential side-roads en route. Looks as if vandals had been out and about destroying people's Halloween displays. Glad we live in our little village. All pumpkins here are given to the shepherdess (our neighbours' daughter) and she chops them up as a treat for her sheep. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Backwoodsman Date: 01 Nov 20 - 12:43 PM Fair points Steve. I’m not in absolute agreement on all of them, but nothing there to get into an argument about. ;-) A bit late, I know, but my sympathy and condolences for the loss of your mum. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Nov 20 - 11:27 AM Agreed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Manitas_at_home Date: 01 Nov 20 - 10:48 AM As I already pay for roads out of the taxes I pay I don't see why I should pay any extra. Motorists pay an additional levy on their emissions, electric vehicles do not so bicycles would also be exempt. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 01 Nov 20 - 10:42 AM I can see "accidents" happening to e scooters before too long in the dark!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Nov 20 - 09:48 AM What you describe regarding e-scooter riders are breaches of the law. There may well be good arguments for licensing the scooters but the fact that a few nutters are using them illegally isn't one of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Nov 20 - 09:45 AM Well I've never owned a dog and it's eight years since we stopped keeping a cat. The law regards cats differently to dogs because of their solitary, independent and wanderlust nature, and the fact that they don't physically threaten people. They have the right to roam, unlike dogs. Argue that point all you like but that's the way it is. Generally, cats don't defaecate in the street so there's no clearing-up cost or a need for catshit bins. If a cat that isn't yours fouls your garden, the owner is liable under nuisance laws, but you'd have a fair bit of proving to do. The same applies to dogshit in the street: very few prosecutions are made. There could be cost implications for the NHS, true, but infectious cat material isn't anywhere near as all-over-the-place as that coming from dogs. The nuisance in your garden bed is just that, a nuisance, but there's little or no cost involved. You have every right in law to go after the bastard whose cat did it, but good luck with that. As for picking up the dogshit, you are still leaving behind a potentially infected piece of ground which is now far harder to see. There are plenty of grey areas here but at least I don't have a dog (or cat) in the fight. So good to get off boring old Halloween now that All Saints' Day is here and get back to something light 'n' easy... ;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 01 Nov 20 - 09:11 AM And I agree too, I would extend it to e scooter riders, where many of the riders show a complete disregard of the Highway Code - racing with motor bikes, riding against a one-way flow while texting, riding with no lights, ignoring traffic lights - generally it seems, having a death wish!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Backwoodsman Date: 01 Nov 20 - 08:35 AM Steve, I agree with you about fireworks, which is precisely what we petitioned for, so no argument there. On dogs, I agree there should be a licence fee, and I’d have no objection to it being applied to fund the emptying of dog-bins. I also believe cyclists should be required to pay a licence fee for their use of roads and footpaths, and to have insurance to cover them and their victims in the case of accidents. I’m happy to consider a contribution to the NHS, provided cat-owners are required to make the same contribution to cover the treatment of infections picked up from the cat-faeces which they bury in other people’s borders for them to put their hands in while gardening or, in my case, leave on the lawn outside my front door. Throughout my life, I’ve owned both dogs and cats and, despite your oft-repeated claims to ‘know’ that I only pick up after my dog if ‘someone is watching me’ (which of course is nonsense because you’ve never even met me, let alone followed me on my many dog-walks) been unfailing in my social duty in that regard - even picking up dog-shit left lying around by other, less responsible owners, or stepping in it hidden in the grass while picking my own dog’s shit. I’m absolutely with you that pet owners should take full and complete responsibility for their pets, whatever type of pets they may be. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Nov 20 - 07:20 AM John, with respect your complaint about fireworks being used irresponsibly is just about in the same league as my complaints about dog-owners leaving dogshit on the streets. Neither complaint adds up to an argument for banning said nuisances. My view on fireworks is that they should be used in organised, licensed displays only and on not many dates. There should be a charge for the licence to reflect the costs of clearing up and for the costs to the fire service and health service of standing by or dealing with accidents. My view on dogs is that they should be licensed via a fee that reflects what it costs councils to clear up the mess and empty those horrid dog bins and should include a contribution to the NHS which has to treat infections picked up from dog faeces. The problem as I see it in both cases is that we have allowed an ethos to exist of freedom to do what you bloody well like instead of an ethos of consideration and responsibility to others. Both fireworks and dogs are voluntary and both impact others. Paying up for the privilege of having these things seems only fair. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Backwoodsman Date: 01 Nov 20 - 07:01 AM I signed a petition to HMG to ban the sale of fireworks to private individuals, and restrict the use of fireworks to properly-organised ‘official’ displays. The government’s response was that there’s no problem, everybody uses fireworks correctly and in a socially-responsible manner, so no change in the regulations is necessary. They were still going off near me at 1:25am today. Proud of your Eton-Boys, Bonzo? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 01 Nov 20 - 05:46 AM Thank you Senoufou, I will. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Dave the Gnome Date: 01 Nov 20 - 04:59 AM Yes, ban fireworks. Ban traffic. Ban TVs. Ban anything that makes loud noises. Particularly Tories droning on about how bad things would have been under Jeremy Corbyn :-D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 01 Nov 20 - 04:44 AM Oh poor Dreamy Bonzo! I so wish those blooming fireworks could be banned. So much distress to animals and risks to property and even people getting burned. Please give Dreamy a little cuddle from me! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 01 Nov 20 - 04:08 AM - the rspca think this year will be worse than ever for fireworks because no displays but surely by now these dangerous weapons that cause such distress to so many animals should be banned , I guess all I can do when she gets distressed is offer reassurance and cuddles!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Bonzo3legs Date: 31 Oct 20 - 07:34 PM Our greyhound, of the fastest breed of dogs on earth, was shaking for much of this evening in fear of fireworks being let off. I sat with her for much of the time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Donuel Date: 31 Oct 20 - 07:12 PM Halloween universe |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 30 Oct 20 - 11:42 PM I know. I'm keeping my head down, as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Mrrzy Date: 30 Oct 20 - 11:43 AM This is gonna be a wild weekend. Wish I could drink as much I used to be able to. If ever there was a time to get drunk and stay that way till something is over... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 29 Oct 20 - 07:10 PM Sunday 1 November is going to feel like the morning after for those who overindulge ... and then it's two days 'til Election Day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 28 Oct 20 - 05:07 PM This year, the 31st of October, Halloween, is the last day of Daylight Saving Time in the US; the next day, Sunday 1 November, goes back to Standard Time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 26 Oct 20 - 08:19 PM They're watching a DVD of a spooky movie and I can hear the orchestral soundtrack from the computer station: heavy emphasis on woodwinds and on brasses using mutes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 26 Oct 20 - 02:10 PM Aye Gallus Moll! See me? I'd be greeting in nae time at all! If that song 'Mull of Kintyre' comes on the Now80's TV channel, I'm literally sobbing when the pipes start playing. And before lockdown, there used to be a piper in full Highland dress outside Norwich M&S, and I was blubbing again (while popping a few quid into his box) The Edinburgh Tattoo on TV has me in tears when the huge massed pipe band starts marching. (I've been to the Tattoo in real life many a time) It could be because my paternal ancestors came from Caithness. Or that I lived happily for a decade in Scotland (Edinburgh then Glasgow) And don't even mention 'O Flower of Scotland'! (Box of tissues at the ready) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Gallus Moll Date: 26 Oct 20 - 01:42 PM Naw! The pipes are heart-warming, bring a tear to the eye of a Scot anywhere mj in the world! Yes they can rouse one to battle, they can also be haunting - but not scarily! (Well, not to Scots.... ) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: keberoxu Date: 25 Oct 20 - 05:14 PM Is there ever an intersection of Halloween with Great Highland War Pipes? I mean, the darned things ARE scary, are they not? Especially after dark?? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Mrrzy Date: 24 Oct 20 - 12:10 PM Snicker, Donuel. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Halloween From: Senoufou Date: 24 Oct 20 - 11:30 AM Just a thong at twilight... |
