Less goblins and ghouls than usual

A quiet Halloween night for Podunk, at least in our end of the burg. Perhaps it was the big show down at the Civic Centre or the occasional monsoon like rain and howling wind, but numbers were down on our block this year.

Our block usually finds a larger share of the podunkian trick or treaters than most, part location (ours is a relatively safe street free of large amounts of traffic) and part neighborly dedication (we have one or two families that really take the celebration to heart), we seem to have numbers than don't match up with the neighborhood demographics.

In years gone by, it would not have not unusual to have numbers of up to 240 kids (and some not so young) come pounding on the door in quest of treats. In a few short years those numbers have been halved.

This year was my year to man the door, as my better half took the young one trolling for treats up and down our street. My unscientific count (subtracting the left overs from the starting amount) gives me a total of about 120 goblins, ghouls and pumpkins looking for a hand out.

A decrease once again, from last years amount where we had about 140 at the door. Part of that can be attributed to a sizeable drop in Podunk's population in the last three or four years. Many people have left Podunk for greener pastures taking with them a rather large collection of would be trick or treaters.

This year the great shell out was hampered by some rather ugly weather, at 5 pm the wind was gusting and the rain was pelting in one of Podunks perpetual October monsoons.

Our humble little display got a few rave reviews from the little ones (a flying bat was a fave) and a few strange looks from parents who probably thought the music was a little over the top, this year I found a Halloween music service on the net that gave me non stop howling tunes. While Ghostbusters and Monster Mash were pretty cool little tunes, I must admit the Marilyn Manson selection was a strange little number. But since the average visit is less than thirty seconds I'm quite sure no little ones were harmed in this years celebration. Top costumes at our door this year, a Nun, a number of ghostbusters and the ever popular werewolf or two. And of course the cute as a button pre toddlers dressed up in pumpkins (I did turn the music down when I saw them coming up the lane!)

Fireworks at 8:15 at the Civic Centre capped off the night, followed by another monsoon like front passing through the town, no doubt aiding the Podunk constabulary in keeping the hooligans and troublemakers under thumb for the night.

Our haul was pretty good for the little one, lots of sugar and other treats for he, Mom and I to work on for the next little while. But we are left with a rather sizeable pile of chips to work through, leaving me with only one wish. That the Halloween treat procurer in our house had taken my advice and picked up treats that we all might like. If you're going to have left overs you had best like what your left over with...