Guising

There's a Power-tooled carve-up a-coming for this sorry looking vegetable. Then some chopping, dicing and adding to a pot for some soup probably.

It was pointed out to me the other day by a fellow blipper that we've all too readily come to adopt a very American way of 'celebrating' Halloween. My use of 'Trick-or-Treat' instead of a good old fashioned Scot's term 'guising' was quite correctly leapt upon. It's guising round theses parts and that's that.

Still, it hasn't stopped the house being turned into some sort of theme park haunted house with pumpkins-a-plenty, blow up eyeballs, dangly spiders, skeletons and CDs of music you'd never ever have bought but because it's now called 'Halloween Hits' you've coughed up a tenner to play it once. Oh, and not forgetting Casper the Camp Ghost at the back here.

And it's only the 30th October. Halloween proper's tomorrow night isn't it?

I've a feeling as soon as it gets dark there'll be the inevitable troops of fancy dressed kids queuing up outside for a handful of sweets or money, with their parents down the drive wishing they'd taken more alcohol to dull the pain for the inevitable soon to ensue sugar induced pandemonium when they get back home. I'm giving them tatties and carrots instead I think.

Anyhow, I did intend to carve a traditional Scot's Jack O'Lantern from this turnip. But the thing's an impenetrable mass and the Chinese made shop bought plastic pumpkin carving kit will bend, buckle and snap before it gets through the skin. I even have my doubts over the Black and Decker Power tools for taking on the task.

Truth be told, I'll get involved with the festivities as much as anybody and be happy to share the kid's haul of confectionery. Don't have much choice seeing as Heather seems to have invited a haunted house full of hormonal teenagers along for the night, all at that age where they want to be drinking alcoholic punch instead of the red coloured soft stuff Samantha's made for them but not having built up any resistance to the effects of the stronger stuff. Could be messy.

So, all Good Guisers welcome tonight, you Trick and Treating types can bugger aff!