The Official Nonsense Thread

[Caspin]

I don't have any kids to take, although I am very happy for other people's kids to visit (as long as they really are kids - not teenagers who think they can sullenly demand cash instead of candy). I always buy a bunch of sweets to give out, but I make sure they are ones that I like in case there are any left. In this neighbourhood most of the parents take their kids round quite early (before I get home from work) and only approach houses (I live in a flat) with pumpkins outside. It's nice, because that way there's not too much noise later on and they don't bother people who are not interested. I approve. I usually see loads of kids while I'm walking home, so I give out sweets as I go, to the parents as well in case they need the sugar as fuel to keep going!

I do like Halloween though. I usually cook a big dinner and hold a feast like in olden times before commercialisation and plastic pumpkin buckets became the norm. I don't like new age fiddlesticks & flapdoodle, but old-school pagan feasting suits me down to the ground. I might carve a squash this year - I read yesterday that climate change is changing the time of year when pumpkins can easily be grown, so that in the future it may not be possible to carve pumpkins. I could use a turnip but they are bloody hard work.

Also

The cats I was looking after were collected this morning so now I am kitty-free. I miss them and their crazy antics, but am also quite relieved to have been able to clean up all that cat hair that was piling up and to open all the windows. I thought I was going to collapse while hoovering (or, for non-UK readers, vacuuming) the sofa, as I think I might be slightly ill - a large proportion of colleagues in my open-plan office have been coughing and sneezing so I'm bound to have something - but I managed to keep going. Now everything is sparkly and lovely and I can relax. I might do a spot of city-building I think.

Enjoy your weekends