Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone.

And, more especially, happy birthday to my oldest, dearest friend and my godson. That's because the birthday means more to me than Halloween, which, I have to confess, I resist.

Seeing those increasingly kitschy and frightful decorations going up around our neighbourhood, starting around the middle of October if not before, gives me shivers of horror. I throw up my hands and reject it all. But then, as I remembered this morning, something different happens when the actual Eve of All Hallows arrives. Out on the streets in the dark, with little people scurrying around carrying black plastic lootbags and dressed in weird and wonderful costumes, there's a special and magical atmosphere that permeates the air. It's a kind of excitement, maybe a little hysterical, but fun all the same.

Tonight I won't be in disguise. But I might put on my black jeans and an orange T-shirt just to show I'm a little in the spirit of things.

So, I repeat, Happy Halloween.