Curmudgeon

Posted byofftheedgegardeningPosted inAway DaysTags:, ,
Kniphofia Happy Halloween

I am not a fan of Halloween. Quite the contrary.

However on this night, when my door bell rings, I attempt to go through the appropriate motions with at least a little feeling.  I pretend to be terrified by the little ghouls and ghosties, I offer hypo-inducing sweets to the adorables in their costumes, I encourage and praise.  But in truth I hate it.  There are several reasons.  When I get home after a hard day on the coal face I don’t want visitors however cutsie.  I want to lounge in my faux caribou negligee with matching mules and eat a giant-sized bag of maltesers without interruption.  And I am a scaredy cat, frightened of her own shadow half the time.  Coming from a city where a knock on the door on All Hallow’s Eve often meant being faced by a trio of pubescent youths, demanding in their crackling voices “Trick or Treat” which meant “Treat or beware”.  No less, there is all the wasteful tat sold for the event, the corporate marketing machine demanding the purchase of rubbish that will be no doubt be binned as soon as night is over.

But for fear of being thought an old curmudgeon, each year, instead of escaping to the pub, or perhaps sitting in darkness lain siege to in our own home, I buy half a hundred weight of treats and wait.  When no one comes, like today, I am offended.  Seriously, there is no way to win.

Sometimes I make things up, that is true.  In my defence it is more “getting carried away” than “bare face fabrication”.  This red hot poker is called Kniphofia ‘Happy Halloween’.  Just the kind of thing that I could have invented.  It is indeed fact, according to RHS Rosemoor.  On reflection, there is always the possibility that they invented the name for the occassion.  How could I suggest such a wicked thing!  Must be something in the air tonight.

23 thoughts on “Curmudgeon”

  1. You’re not the only curmudgeon! Living in the countryside we don’t get bothered. And when I did live where the little thugs darlings came a knocking I used to shrug my shoulders and tell them they were too late. I know. I am a BAD person.

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    1. Great timing or was it great luck? When I was young, it seems (I don’t remember) that one year, on being asked, I said I’d like a little sister for Christmas. My parents duly obliged. Best Christmas present ever. Especially as she arrived on a tricycle which is what I really wanted. When I got older, I wondered how Mum managed to eject that from ……….

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  3. I’ve had one little group of six with mums waiting on the end of the drive. Supervising. Ensuring safety. But not interfering. I played it safe. Not a major consumer of chocolate, I bought some multipacks of little bags of Haribo. What I have left will serve a purpose. As you know.

    Next year I will buy some little tubes of toothpaste. In years to come, the little ones, and their mums, will thank me. Though I may park the car round the corner.

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  5. Dare I say, I’m not a fan of Halloween or red hot pokers. But I buy the obligatory sweets and your photo is very uplifting. Rain stopped play for them this year.

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  6. More curmudgeons down here. We spent the evening with the blinds closed and low lighting to read by, ignoring the taps on the door. Fortunately it was over quite early, as the little witches and co who live near us are still young. Halloween is a fairly recent addition to the insane consumerism events that occur in this country so there are quite a lot of folk who feel grouchy about it.

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  7. This whole Halloween racket with all its tackiness is an import from America. We had no such nonsense when I was growing up long ago in the mists of time, oop north. We had good wholesome Mischief Night on the 4th November. No going begging with our parents, we made our own entertainment, taking off gates and setting fire to other people’s bonfires or taking dustbins for a walk.
    Dressing up as pumpkins and begging sweeties is for cissies.

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  8. Goodness, it seems that we all dislike Halloween to some degree. I already wrote about my gripes. Today was All Saints’ Day, the Holy Day that Halloween was designed to distract from, Tomorrow is Dia de los Muertos, which really is a respectable holiday designed to honor the deceased.

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  9. I’m an American and I have always hated Hallowe’en, even as a child. I recall my British aunt saying during one of her visits that it is “exactly like poor children going from door to door begging” which of course was part of the origin of the holiday if one goes back in time enough. I didn’t know this history at the time, of course; I just disliked the entire thing. I did make costumes for my son when he was little, though, because he always wanted to “be” someone that no storebought costumes were made for. That part was interesting but for the rest of it… I am curmudgeon, hear me roar! LOL

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