Halloween In Atlanta
October 31
Halloween is not one of my favourite times of the year. Memories of dogs running away, cold rainy nights in our terrible costumes, and being chased by irate homeowners, [1950s]. In that era we were oftened asked to "perform" at somebodys house, sing, dance recite etc. The firecrackers that we had when we were kids made it a bit of fun though. I like things that go BANG!
Last night was Halloween, and there was no escaping it, I had to participate.
First was "The Street Dinner", yes, we ate dinner on the street! A neighbour of Sophie's, who is a great cook and loves to do this puts out some main dish food on the street for all to come and enjoy. The neighbours bring salads, desserts, etc.
Each household brings their bowl of treats, therefore kids from the surrounding neighbourhoods, [a cul-de-sac community], only have to go to the table and take their fill. [Really, the kids still like to ring the doorbells.]
Anyhow, after our dinner, Robin and two other fathers and myself took off with four young girls in tow. I thought with these kids, we would be back in 1/2 hour. Two hours later we dragged our sorry butts back to home. I was absolutely bagged. The girls were full of beans and ready to go out again. This was not going to happen, the dads were beat.
I found it an interesting contrast on our two hour stroll, between my memories and 2006 Atlanta, USA. No fireworks, no real vandalism, just a night out strolling with family. It was very, very nice.
The photos cannot do the evening justice. The neighbourhood is lovely; I suppose it is upper middle class. Maybe I never lived in an upper middle class neighbourhood, I don't know. I do know that I have about the only pickup truck in the area that doesn't have lawn mowing equipment in it, or a welder, or towing a cement mixer.
There was one interesting thing that we could learn from and foster; "Adult Treat Tables," see photos. The beer wagon is a bit of a novelty, but the trays of hot chicken wings, other hot-from-the-oven treats and desserts are very nice. You could also tipple a bit on the rounds with wine and spirits at some cul-de-sacs.
My high of the evening was having a few 'Mounds' bite sized bars. I havent had that taste treat for about 50 years.
We were in the prone position about 8.00 pm., Rob did his magic with some pre-recorded programmes where he skips through the commercials and you actually see a one hour series in about 40 minutes.
The other night he persuaded me to watch a 1983 horror movie. It was over in about one and one quarter hours. I asked him how come the commercials came so often and he said that he skipped over the parts of the movie that were boring. No wonder it was all horror and no plot the whole time!
Today, [November 1st, we installed a new toilet and new programmable thermostat. We will see if the thermostat works when Rob gets home from work around seven!
posted by Doug and Fellette @ 8:22 AM
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