Halloween

Halloween yesterday.  Even by American standards, this is a ridiculously over the top day of excess – think pets being dressed up in elaborate outfits, inordinate amounts of candy (“sweets”) being consumed, millions of pumpkins sold and wasted each year.  Halloween might have pagan or Christian roots, but at least in America it is most definitely an overly commercial and secular event – and the billions being spent on it each year seem particularly wasteful.  Being the miserly curmudgeon I am, I refuse to engage in it.  So no costumes, no engaging with trick and treaters, no bobbing for apples, no parties (not that I get invited to any anyway!).  I’m certainly not giving anything to the ghastly little monsters that live round here and made so much noise over the summer –fortunately I think I avoided them because by the time I got home it was pouring rain and I wasn’t disturbed.  I just stayed in and got annoyed by so many TV shows only having lazy Halloween special episodes this week – for example, I’ve always thought that the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes were among the worse they have to offer.