wagwaan?: Happy Hallowe'en

I haven't posted since Friday! This weekend was very pleasant. Claire and I went to Hobbycraft on Saturday to buy wool (Claire) and felt (me) to make Christmas presents. We spent over £40 and of course yesterday I found a voucher that would have given me £5 off. Typical! Anyway, we walked all the way there and all the way back, AND around John Lewis and Boots in the Harlequin, so by the time we got home we were pretty tired. All weekend we've been knitting and sewing, and it's been lots of fun. Not sure who the presents I've made are for yet though, but Claire has been knitting a scarf for her best friend. I taught her how to cast on and we've stuck with plain stitches for her first attempt. It looks lovely so far and I think Claire is quite taken with it...

Today being Hallowe'en, Claire has gone off to Roisin's place to watch ghoulish movies and stuff herself silly with sweets. I got home in time to find the Tesco man had been, and there is a big bag of sweets and chocolates - but only 5 little girls came round early on, and no one since. The chocolates have steadily been going down and I feel ever so slightly nauseous now :( That'll teach me. No one down our road seems to have decorated their house or anything. Yesterday, in the Tube, two poor little girls with bin liners as witches' capes and plastic hats on went around saying "trick or treat" to all the commuters, or "money or a sweet!". When they came to me I just said "you're early"... because I didn't have anything to give them. I felt quite sorry for them though - one of them only had pink flip flops on her feet. I know we're having unseasonably warm weather so far this Autumn, but even so, the weather is too cold for flip flops! My (American) colleagues who live in St John's Wood have much more exciting Hallowe'en celebrations. A lot of ex-pats live there and the neighbourhood has become known for its celebrations. Last year Fred gave out 600 pieces of "candy" and this year he is expecting to give 800! He has also hired a security guy for the evening, because after the little kids, it's the turn of big scary teenagers in scary masks who threaten you if you don't given them anything. We had a couple last year, but this year we have no decorations on the door, so they avoided us, thankfully!

Wherever you are, I hope you are having a fun evening. Next on our calendar is Guy Fawkes, or Bonfire Night, which I love, and then Victorian Evening in Rickmansworth in November, and the Church Christmas Bazaar - and then, YAY, it's Christmas! Today I bought our tickets - Eurostar returns to Paris, £203 for the two of us. I think Wayne's staying here again this year... he's not big on Christmas. The money situation is better now I have a good job, but I still have to watch the pennies: I'm just glad I could buy the tickets now, before all the cheap seats are gone!