You'd really never know it's Halloween here in South Kensington, London. I mean, so far, the only human being I've seen in costume was one of the (older) cashiers in Sainsbury's, bless her cotton socks. I don't know what she was going as, but she had some interesting facial make up in lavender. A Southern American couple happened to be behind me on line and we were praising her for dressing up, and then the wife said 'Happy Halloween to ME!' and toasted with what I realised was an open can of beer. The party had already started!
So far my only Trick was I missed yoga class. Got there late (from doing my previous post), Mr. Dot was already there, and the class was filled up, so I went swimming, which was delightful. Which makes it a Treat actually.
This collage is a few years old: pre Blog, pre digital. A friend was at work and asked if her daughter could come over and I'd take her trick or treating. The girl brought her own supplies and costumes: I have no idea what she was going as, but I think I was meant to be a cat. I wore all black, and the effect seems to be more 'cat burglar' a la Cary Grant in It Takes a Thief.
To give you an idea how LAME Halloween is here, in all the time we've lived here no child (or adult) has run our bell, not once, to say trick or treat. British female journalists have written about how they just get in their 4x4s and take the kids over to a street not far from us, where the American yummy mummies have built up a reputation for going whole hog (that's where I took my friend's daughter). I don't even know this year if it's on - that enclave seemed mainly to be bankers, and they might have hoofed it back to the US of A.
My childhood friend Sheila sent this from Malibu, where she lives with the husband that my boyfriend and I set her up with when we were all 15, and their twin daughters. I asked her to scan it higher res but she was sending it from her phone. I can tell my dad didn't take the photo, if he did it would be centered. From left, my friend Joanne, me, Sheila, and my gorgeous sister Amy, the only Blonde on the block. The boys are my brother Jon and her brother Howie, but I can't tell who is who. I have no idea what I was going as, but it seems I'm carrying a Peace sign, so perhaps I was a Protester.
Sheila and I were reminiscing about how much we loved Halloween, she's a fellow artist and we got so creative (or so I thought at the time). Well, we had fun. I'll never forget the time my sister, who is two years younger, begged to go out with a bunch of my friends. At night. We hadn't got as far as Derrick Johnston's house, when a bunch of boys egged us. We all scattered, and when the dust settled, only Amy had ended up with an egg shampoo, in floods of tears. Had to take her home, poor thing. Party over.
Gotta dig up more Halloween photos, but we're off to see a film soon. Are any of you dressing up? Please send me photos, I"ll post them.
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8 comments:
very nice photos
I've never dressed up for Halloween, or trick or treated. Sad times. Have a fabulous night x
Cute Piccy's Miss Polkadot x
Never saw that photo.
You all looked so cute.
Mom
Very cute, Jill.
I've dressed in a Halloween costume once since age 12. It was '84 or '85 when I went as Madonna- black lace, heavy eye make-up, big hair bow, Wayfarers, black leather jacket. My friend Debbie went as a punk-rocker. Fun time, surprised I actually remember it, as we were bar-hopping that night.
I almost went to a H'ween party last year dressed as Edie Sedgwick, but had trouble putting together a costume (remember I was on Tortola), and then something came up anyway and we missed the party.
I had the most wonderfully inconvenient costume ever! I dressed up as a bunch of grapes using forty purple balloons and making a big green cardboard leaf for my hair. It was so much fun even though moving through a packed party wasn't so great!
I love your blog. It is so fabulous! Always such a treat to read.
It's terrible that they don't do Halloween in England! It's such a good excuse for costumes and fun!
You know, I was living in Farringdon last year at Halloween and while I didn't think of it then, no, I didn't really see any trick-or-treaters. But what I found to be terribly refreshing was when I went out on Halloween night. I'd gone to Camden, and while there and en route to and fro, the costumes I saw (on people in their 20s) were plentiful...and FUN! Zombies, monsters, fairies, cats (I was holly golightly)...not embarrassingly skimpy like so many of them here in the USA. I'm no prude, but when I went out for Halloween in the States this past weekend, it was an entirely different experience. I was afraid that if I looked the wrong way I'd see people's bits, everything was so short!
I think that if you plan ahead in advance there are quite a lot of activities for kids around this time of year and some restaurants which serve Halloween themed dinners. There are also quite a lot of Halloween parties and special Balls to celebrate the evening. But I don't think that it is as big as in USA like you said.
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