Halloween

Dressed up for the day show. Wearing the long velvet black dress that velvet_the_cat made for me years ago, my hair bouffanted up a la Bride of Frankenstein with no side stripe but a crowning bat in me belfry, black lips and eyes...I didn't look out of place. Central London was full of excited dress-ups, from sinister wearers of blood-stained radiation suits and gas masks to undead policemen and pearly kings and queens. One lady smiled at me, she had her own posse of tiny pointyhatters, little girls all staring in awe. One pumpkin bearing minx whispered to her purple-socked sister, 'That's a very old witch!' I stared at them imperiously, then smiled, and walked on, using my umbrella/broom as a walking stick. They watched, minds full of pictures and stories. Pretty to see.

A much older lady sat on the tube, staring at me quizzically. She couldn't help herself, but leaned across and asked me if I always dressed like that. I told her I was considering it in order to guarantee myself a permanent seat on the train.

The capital seemed determined to find something to celebrate this year, it's all much more American, trick or treatish, though the hordes of skellies, ghouls, wizards and monsters who knocked on the door were clearly too polite to consider tricks. They weren't going to rampage, until I asked them to, at which point I got some roarandclaw action. Beyond them, lurking in the shadows were the guardians of darkness, accompanying parents making sure everything was OK.

I like it. Let's celebrate this Winter!