Happy Halloween, everybody! Or scary Halloween, or whatever the appropriate sentiment may be.
I've seen lots of Halloween decorations out and about in our part of London, perhaps because there are a lot of Americans in this area. But as I've said in the past, Halloween is becoming more popular among the British too, and it's very common to see decorated shop windows and pumpkins on front steps.
This house (above) in St. John's Wood looks rather Halloweenish, with that giant spider, but it's actually there all the time -- as is the goldfish, which isn't Halloweenish at all. The spider used to cling to the facade of the house but at some point it moved to the yard.
Here are some other noteworthy decorations I've seen:
(The lights inside the spiders spin and twirl. It's like an arachnophobe's bad LSD trip!)
This one looks legitimately scary, even to me.
Dave and I have no special plans. The risk of trick-or-treaters is very low here -- in fact we've never had one in the entire time we've lived in London -- but we'll still be hiding out in the back of the house with the porch lights off. Frankly, that's what we do every night, unless we're getting a Chinese food delivery.
My brother, rather than sending me a bag of candy corn (as he has in the past), this year sent me a picture of a bag of candy corn instead. "Too expensive to ship," he wrote. "Thanks, Obama!"
(He was kidding.)
(He was kidding.)
The spider clinging to the house looks better.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you mentioned your brother was kidding.
The creature in the last photo is huge, and scary.
Well, I never knew that your brother's name was Obama. That's rather spooky itself as your brother must have been born long before Barack Obama became the 44th President of The USA. Is Steve your real name or do you also have presidential name? Perhaps you are Taft or maybe Nixon? I can perfectly understand why you would want to keep the second one quiet.
ReplyDeleteI think I'd like your brother -- but I'd miss the annual shipment of candy corn. That last house would creep me out. The perfectly strung spider web and 4 spiders is very elegant.
ReplyDelete"Thanks, Obama!" LOL. Good one. Your brother sounds like a hoot!
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween!
I love candy corn, I know it is junk but....I have a whole bag for just myself this year.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Happy Halloween xxx to both of u and Olga
ReplyDeleteThose are terrific decorations! The candy corn pic is funny. I don't like candy corn to eat but it makes a great decorating statement! (Only partially kidding.)
ReplyDeleteI think this might be the first year in ages we don't turn the light on. We used to have a lot of kids; last year about 13 and none from our street. I miss those times with the kids or grandkids of the neighbors did our street. It's supposed to be very cold and snowy. I don't want the Halloween candy hanging around after and it's unbelievably expensive this year. But it will be weird. Rick and I will eat our traditional Halloween chili, maybe watch Rocky Horror or Arsenic and Old Lace and hibernate!
I don't get the Goldfish. At least give it a scary face?
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Mitchell, the spider web with the spiders is quite elegant.
Well, Happy Halloween from Lloyd where I figure I don't need any decorations because I already live in a house that looks haunted. It's not.
ReplyDeleteHey - your brother could ship the candy corn to ME! It would be way cheaper & I would love it (never mind that I can go down the road & get my own dang candy corn).
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween, Steve! I'm ready for trick or treaters with a bowl of candy. We may have a dusting of snow today so we will see how many come out.
ReplyDeleteHalloween decorations are popular this year. I have a single pumpkin and that will do just fine for me.
ReplyDelete🎃 👻 boo! Happy Halloween!
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, the folks over there are big on spiders! No bad LSD trips ... That made me LOL!
Candy corn=sugar overload!!!
only two houses on our street with decorations. and never had a trick or treater the whole time we lived here. so lights out for us too just in case. we usually didn't get any in out inner city neighborhood either and when we did it would just be a handful of the kids but we always had a little candy just in case.
ReplyDeleteHappy Halloween! I love seeing the decorations there. They look so much like the ones in our neighborhood. We don't give out candy anymore. We turn out all the lights and hide in the bedroom. BOO!
ReplyDeleteHalloween is just too much for me with the two major holidays coming in the next 55 days. I do enough to make my kids happy and call it a day. My oldest just goes and hangs out with friends but the youngest still wants to dress up and go out trick or treating for candy. We just take her around our immediate neighborhood. I'm guessing this might be the last year for that but I'll let her decide like we did with the eldest.
ReplyDeleteYou found a good selection of Halloween decorations. The guy with the red eyes is indeed a scary critter. I've only had one set of trick-or-treaters here at my apartment the entire time I've lived here and they were actually a bit too old to be knocking on doors. However, I am prepared just in case.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of shipping things, I purchased an assortment of items at Fortnum & Mason that I thought would be good holiday gifts and I had them shipped. They were at my door by 6:00 PM last night. Wow, that was fast.
I love the spider and the fish. Two out of 23 houses in our neighborhood decorate for Halloween, which would not be us. It's going to be fairly cold tonight, so we're hoping it deters the kids.
ReplyDeleteThat spider is incredible! Eek. I don't have any highly decorated homes in my cul-de-sac but there are a few in the development. I give out the candy I have, then turn out the light. Sometimes I have left overs because there aren't many trick or treaters. It depends on the day of the week and the weather! There are also so many community and church activities that are easier and more comfortable than going door to door.
ReplyDeleteThere sure are a lot of spider and web decorations. "Thanks, Obama!" made me laugh. It's been a long time since I heard that one.
ReplyDeleteHere in Stepford land with our condo restrictions, there are no Halloween decorations outside of the tasteful pumpkins on the front steps. I think I'm grateful for the tight rein condo residents are kept on; I don't much want to see an inflatable demon flapping across the street day after day.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wonder what the people with the permanent spider and goldfish must be like. Weird or interesting: someone you'd want to meet or perhaps not?
I know one person who likes candy corn. Now I know two. Highly sugared ear wax!
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween decorations so thanks for sharing the ones you've encountered with us! (though I think the goldfish is a little odd)
ReplyDeleteI just read an article in the paper over the weekend about how candy corn tends to be a love it or hate it thing. Personally, I LOVE it! Of course my contrarian spouse informed me he's ambivalent about it. 🙄
Brothers Sure Know How To Be Charming - Dig The Halloween Decorations
ReplyDeleteCheers
He'd better be kidding!
ReplyDeleteThe oversized spider and goldfish just don't look right, but all the others are quite classy. Even that last one. I like them.
ReplyDeleteAndrew: I debated whether to say he was kidding, thinking that might dampen the joke. But I didn't want anyone to think he was serious!
ReplyDeleteYP: Once when I was a kid I had a nightmare that Richard Nixon was my father.
Mitchell: Isn't that a nice decoration? So understated. If Jackie O decorated for Halloween, it would look like that.
Jennifer: He is definitely a hoot!
Peter: It was my favorite candy when I was a kid! But now a little goes a long way.
John: Thank you! Olga is in costume as a dog this year. :)
Jeanie: That sounds like a great Halloween, actually!
Bob: Well, I think the goldfish isn't specifically a Halloween decoration. Nor is the spider. They're both sculptures that are up year-round.
Ms Moon: I think your house looks way too cozy to be haunted!
Bug: Ha! I'll ask but I'm not sure it's going to happen. :)
Ellen D: Let me know how many you get!
Susan: That's about as far as it would ever go for me, and even that is more than I do most years!
Marcia: Yeah, I'm not sure where this British affinity for psychedelic spiders comes from. (That sounds like a band name -- The Psychedelic Spiders.)
Ellen: If there's even a chance you'll get some, it's good to have candy on hand so as not to endure any tricks!
Robin: A couple after my own heart! :)
Ed: Hey, as long as she can get away with it, why not?!
Sharon: Wow! That's service! Teen-aged trick-or-treaters are no laughing matter.
Allison: Yeah, I've heard a lot of places in North America are having quite a cold snap. It's still quite mild here. No kid deterrent!
Margaret: My perception is that there's much less door-to-door candy collection these days than when I was a kid.
Colette: It's a useful comedic phrase in so many situations! Of course much funnier when said after something that Obama could never have affected, thus parodying his harshest critics.
Marty: I have mixed feelings about that. On one hand, good taste is always nice. On the other, a bit of excess livens things up!
Debby: I'm not sure I'd like it now, to be honest. But when I was a kid I could eat it by the pound.
Kelly: Maybe it's like cilantro, where diners' genetic differences apparently lead some of them to think it tastes soapy?
Padre: He's a character, for sure!
Catalyst: Ha! He definitely is. Just wanted to make that clear.
River: And yet I respect them most of all because they're handmade and basically full-on sculptures.