Monday, October 24, 2005

woohoo and yay!

It's that time of year again - two weeks ago I heard the first BANG! and thought I was back in South Africa. Then I realised it wasn't a gunshot but a cracker. Halloween is a-comin...

It amazes me that in a place where fireworks are illegal there are just so many of them around. It's easy enough to come by them though. All you have to do is drive North from here for about an hour and you reach the border of The North (as the Irish refer to Northern Ireland) and right there, a few metres inside the border, are huge signs advertising "FIREWORKS ON SALE HERE". Needless to say the road is a tad busy at this time of year. These people seem to celebrate Halloween for a whole month. I'm beginning to wonder if we are being invaded by a race of aliens cleverly disguised as Halloween Pumpkins - it would be a great way to strategically position thousands of aliens without arousing any suspicion. They walk among us...!

One can't help being caught up in all of this revelry though. The shops are crammed full of Halloween stuff - costumes, pumpkins (or so they'd like us to believe),candles and decorations of all shapes and sizes (as long as they're either orange or black) and huge bags of sweets for trick-or-treaters. I discovered over the weekend that even I am the proud (?) owner of a black witches hat. When did I think I was ever going to use it?! I can only surmise it must have been one of my shopping-while-hungover purchases.

Of course, just past all the Halloween displays, the Christmas goodies are a-waiting, and the day after, all the orange and black stuff will have magically disappeared and been replaced by twinkling red and silver stuff. And then the carols will start (eesh!). I swear the window-dressers must pull an all-nighter on Halloween to change their displays, poor buggers.


Now, you may be wondering why I'm posting about Halloween so far in advance. Well firstly (and I just know you all want to know this) someone was looking for a good idea for a Halloween outfit not so long ago and I promised I would post a pic on my blog for them. So here it is:
I don't know where this photograph originated - someone sent it to me in an email that looked as if has been around the world a few times - but I just thought this was the cleverest Halloween outfit EVER!

And since I'm unlikely to be using the idea myself, I thought someone might be able to make use of it. But if you win a prize, I get 50% of the proceeds, deal?

Oh, and you have to post a pic of yourself in costume on your Blog, too.

The other reason for the slightly premature post is that my friend and her husband are arriving from SA tomorrow so I'll more than likely be spending more time with real people for the next week or so than with my blogging buddies (although I'm sure I can squeeze in a comment or two somewhere).


I am SOOOO excited to see my friend, and the best news is, they're not just visiting, but are actually moving to Ireland. Yay!!! They'll be staying with us for a week before heading to their new home in the south of the country but I am so happy to have her here I'm almost falling out of myself!

So spare a thought for the weary travellers - they will have left Jo'burg by now and have a gruelling long-haul flight ahead of them. Believe me, this is not a fun trip to make. And on top of that I'm sure their hearts are breaking a little at leaving behind their home and their family and their friends and their lives to start anew on the other side of the globe. Been there, done that. It is not an easy thing to do.


But Yay! My friend is coming!

14 comments:

Bosbefok said...

nice outfit ! I bet youre not brave enought to put a pic of your Red Devils outfit on your blog - Damn that was one sexy outfit....
Skin tight red catsuit, horns and a tail .....
My buddy is also moving from SA to Ireland ...... Hope he brings Biltong :-)

L said...

Someone would have to be real brave to wear that as a costume LOL.

anne said...

woohoo and yay!
(just thought I'd echo the enthusiasm...)

Framesby 86 said...

Your friend was very excited when I saw her about a month ago. Please wish them welcome to their new home from me too. Enjoy the reunion!!! I know it is going to be a blast and we are obviously waiting to hear all about it.

Terri said...

Bosbefok - The less said about that particular outfit, the better, twas a long, long time ago.

Lori - Yeah but I bet you'd get a lot of laughs... plus, you don't have to worry about finding a spot on the table to put your drink since you'd be carrying the table with you.

Anne - Do I hear sarcasm? No? Well thank you for your enthusiasm, m'dear! We'll be happy(ish) together ok?

Undr - Cool, a Banner! Double yay!

Buddess - I'll pass on the message and have no doubt that the reunion will be enjoyed by all :-)

ChittyChittyBangBang! said...

Halloween isn't big in SA, never has been.
5th Nov is traditionaly Guy Fawkes day, but the SPCA put an end to that one! Bummer.
Guess we'll have to wait for Xmas to do the celebrating!
And I wanna see that pic of you in the Red Devil's outfit. Think of it as doing your bit in spreading the halloween spirit to good ol' SA. ;)

kyknoord said...

I'll bet a phychologist could have field day with that photo.

anne said...

No sarcasm. And yes, that's a deal. :)

Terri said...

Chitty - No chance. And the official excuse is that the photo is in an album in a box somewhere in my Mom's house on the other side of the planet (phew!)

KN - It is a tad disturbing, innit?

Anne - Excellent! How's this for a start :-)

DelBoy said...

Some useless information: The Irish actually took Halloween to the USA in the 1840's! (OK, so I'm writing a Halloween Quiz for the pub)

Your Ma was telling us about your friends moving yesterday! It's always nice to have friends from home who live close by. Doesn't mean you can forget your other friends (and family) on the blog though!

As for that outfit... it's the kind of thing I can imagine your hubby and his (strange/wild/mad) friends coming up with.

:-)

Terri said...

Del, thank you for furthering my education. See, that's exactly why I couldn't forget my blogging buddies... where else am I supposed to learn so much useful stuff?

Ben O. said...

Halloween is great, but I have never heard of using fireworks to celebrate it. I prefer a nice haunted house or a couple scary movies.

Ben O.

LiVEwiRe said...

Halloween is the absolute best. All of a sudden, being a bit wicked is the norm and highly acceptable. One year I was a tarty little showgirl with a red glitter hat, black velvet bustier, and black feather boa (think Chicago). We started at a small party and ended at a HUGE party and had to spend half my time telling guys to get their nose out of my, er, you know. I would have slapped them but hey... I had to pull the feathers from my boa out of my drink every now and then. I do have pics, but alas... no scanner.

By the way... I'm so happy about your friend's arrival! I bet that will make you (both) so very happy! Congrats!

Terri said...

Ben, I don't do scary movies. Or watch them, for that matter ;-)
I'm not sure where the fireworks idea here comes from - maybe cos there are so many on sale in The North at the moment because Guy Fawkes is just around the corner, but the Irish don't celebrate Guy Fawkes 'cos that's an English thing. Maybe?

LW - You have GOT to get a scanner, girl! That's a great description, hehe.
And yes, me & my friend are happy. We had a good long yak last night while both hubbies were out at the pub. Just what a girl needs :-)