A duel to the death

Here are a couple of duelling banjos that didn't know when to stop. Rather like the film to which Duelling Banjos was a key musical moment, it did not end well for these players. They did not achieve deliverance from The Grim Reaper, whilst a disembodied Frankenstein looked on. I had to pass by this macabre scene in order to enter the cafe in Lightwater where these skeletal figures formed part of its Halloween theme. I usually have a rant about the Americanisation and gross commercialisation of Halloween at this time of year,  and that the only way I marked the occasion when I was a kid was with a bit of apple bobbing at home. But then I read in the paper this week about how 'guising' at Halloween was an ancient tradition in the North of England and Scotland. Guising involved dressing up to earn  'treats' but did not involve 'tricks'. That developed in the US after the tradition, like so many old folk customs, crossed the Atlantic with the early settlers. So, I'll give the rant a miss this year.