A week of Ghostly Posts
'Tis the end of October, traditionally The Phantom's favourite time of year, and in celebration, I will be having a creepy time on the blog with a week's worth of Greenwich spookery.
Hallowe'en seems to be getting bigger and bigger these days - but here is not the place to go into the rights and wrongs of trick-or-treating. Let's look on the bright side - while everywhere is full of pumpkins and paper chains in the shape of witches on broomsticks (and have you noticed that even the Blackwall Tunnel seems to be getting in on the act - black, sooty walls, sodium orange lights and bright green one-way arrows...) it's NOT full of Christmas decorations. We used to be plagued with festive decor and Christmas muzak from mid-Spetember onwards. Now, with Hallowe'en to celebrate, the shops all wait a bit longer. As Ian Drury would say "reasons to be cheerful..."
Hallowe'en starts tomorrow.
Hallowe'en seems to be getting bigger and bigger these days - but here is not the place to go into the rights and wrongs of trick-or-treating. Let's look on the bright side - while everywhere is full of pumpkins and paper chains in the shape of witches on broomsticks (and have you noticed that even the Blackwall Tunnel seems to be getting in on the act - black, sooty walls, sodium orange lights and bright green one-way arrows...) it's NOT full of Christmas decorations. We used to be plagued with festive decor and Christmas muzak from mid-Spetember onwards. Now, with Hallowe'en to celebrate, the shops all wait a bit longer. As Ian Drury would say "reasons to be cheerful..."
Hallowe'en starts tomorrow.
posted by The Greenwich Phantom at
11:24
5 Comments:
Don't like Trick or Treat- an American abomination that has crept in like a scabby cat. However, have laid in a small supply of Jelly Snakes, Sainsbury's Basic Clear Fruits and Everton Mints to dole out to the creatures of the night. Hope to be terrified by smallsters in ghastly outfits (there seem to be rows and rows of costumes in the Supies this year).
Shouldn't we already be celebrating Christmas? - it is October after all...
Phantom, we're having a doozy of a Halloween party. I think you'd love it. It's going to be absolutely amazing with lots of American Abominations for the kiddies. Actually, it's an all-kiddie party, so I think you'd probably hate it.
I'm up to my ears in meringue bones, butterbeer, cockroach clusters, white chocolate ghosts, painted signs and antiqued potion names. Seriously, this had better be amazing or I'm quitting Halloween for good.
For a year at least.
did we forget there used to be a ghost in the Dome
The creepy presence of Peter Mandelson, perhaps, Edith???
Andrekabu - may I recommend a very fine book on Hallow e'en by Mark Oxbrow, a folklorist and very sound man? Called "Halloween - from Pagan Festival to Trick or Treat" it is, as far as I know, the only work that pulls the entire history of the festival and it's a really excellent read. It's got a dodgy cover - but don't be put off by it. It's excellent.
He has also written what is now considered to be the "real" explanation behind the chapel at Rosslyn - his having done a HUGE amount of research involving post-it notes and gargoyles and knocking Dan Brown into a cocked hat. It has some fabulous ghost stories in it that I was once lucky enough to have the man himself tell the to me by candlelight in the dungeons of Rosslyn Castle, where they are actualy set.
whoooooooOOOoooooOOOoo!!!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Halloween-Pagan-Festival-Trick-Treat/dp/1903254124/ref=sr_1_4/026-6609132-7176448?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1193735787&sr=8-4
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