Sammy the spider is on the loose

We toodle along to our local village pub. Once more we're filled with shock. The pub's been transformed. Witches fly across the ceiling. Skulls lurk on every shelf. Zombies hang paley on the walls.  Bloody hands stain the window panes. Innocuous pictures on the wall turn out to be something else on closer examination. So, for example, a copy of the Mona Lisa hides a dragon that looms out at you.The specials menu features things such as "Severed Fingers" and "Fried whitebait with vampire dip". Around all there's swathes of cobwebs with loads of spiders, from tiny ones to great huge things. I'm just waiting for one of those giant tarantulas, a couple of feet, across to wave a friendly leg & I'll be off.

All this is due to Halloween. There was a party held here on Saturday, in the afternoon for kids & the evening for adults (in costume). I gather the afternoon party was a great success, with Michael, one of the barmen, & an aspiring professional magician, performing all sorts of tricks to amuse them. The evening was quieter. 

It's the first time such a big fuss has been made to Halloween here & the locals are suspicious of change. Clearly not many knew what to make of the adult party.

The decorations remain up, presumably until Halloween itself.It's certainly drawing much needed business this week. Most afternoons when we've been in, we've had the bar to ourselves. We've had an amiable chat with the staff & wondered at some of Michael's magic tricks. At the moment you are hard pushed to find a table just for you. I know it's half term but many of the visitors are childless so that doesn't seem to be the explanation.

We dread that,  when the decorations do come down, they will be replaced with Christmas paraphernalia instead. This landlord clearly likes going over the top! And we've already noticed some shop windows with Christmas trees in the windows. We have to pinch ourselves & remember it's still October! 

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On a different matter, I'd like to say how wonderful it is to feel more like myself. It's great to be able to plan meals once more, confident we might actually eat them. We even had some savoury pancakes yesterday using up some leftover cooked gammon. I've been planning to do this meal for a while but haven't dared to get the meat out of the freezer the night before so I can make up the pancakes in the morning, for fear I'd be back in hospital or too uncomfortable to be able to even contemplate cooking or possibly eating even if the Fox cooked it.

Yesterday I even tried a half glass of wine with my meal, the first alcohol for over a week, & so far there's no ill after-effects. Maybe I'll have a whole glass tonight. It does make the meal a bit more special, though I'm strictly limiting myself to quantity, just to be on the safe side. And I'm staying off the alcohol if we want a chunter & some music later in the evening.