Every so often the New York Times runs a story about the UK that just hits the nail right on the head. It doesn’t make me feel any happier that I left. Nor does it make me want to rush home. It just says something special about the country I left behind. Today, for your Halloween pleasure, it’s trick or treating UK style:
Fear of tricks — vandalism, really — drives much of the anti-Halloween feeling here now. Many police forces around the country have added patrols to deal with Halloween-instigated problems, including egg-and-flour-throwing, attacks on fences and doors, menacing gatherings of disaffected drunken youths and the theft of garden ornaments.
Like many other forces, the Cheshire police in northwestern Britain have been distributing no-trick-or-treating posters for people to affix to their windows. Fifty-eight percent of homeowners in a recent survey by the Norwich Union insurance company said they had hidden in the back of their houses and turned off all the lights on Halloween, pretending that no one was home.
A similar question came up last weekend, in a Halloween discussion group on Mumsnet, a popular mothers’ Web site here. The tips being traded were not about how to make pumpkin soup, but about how to repel would-be trick-or-treaters. “I’ve thought about removing the cover from my doorbell so they electrocute themselves,” one participant wrote.
For the sake of comparison, here’s another Halloween story that ran in the Metro section of the Times today:
Here in Garrison, and in suburban and exurban communities across the country, trunk-or-treating is the latest twist on the quintessentially American ritual of door-to-door candy-collecting, bringing Halloween from the uncertain streets to the safety of church and school parking lots, turning the backs of minivans and sport utility vehicles into the new front porch.
Trunk-or-treating — also known as Halloween tailgating — solves the rural conundrum in which homes built a half-mile apart make the simple act of ringing doorbells require some physical fortitude. Where neighbors are strangers, these community events substitute family-friendly entertainment for the unwanted risks of what lies behind each door.
And for churches that had disdained Halloween as a pagan ritual, trunk-or-treating has become a safe alternative for parents — and pastors — who wish to keep a watchful eye on children, often encouraged to dress as biblical characters.
“We live in the country, so our kids don’t have the chance to open the door and hand out candy to another kid because no one comes to your front door on Halloween,” said M. J. Martin, P.T.A. president at the Garrison Union Free School, who had purple bat wings protruding from the back of her head for the festivities. “This is a way to celebrate Halloween with the whole family without any of us parents having to worry about whose house our kid is going to, or if the kid will get hit by a car or get lost in the woods.”
Happy Halloween! Ooooh-ah-hah-hah-hah-hah…
No Tags
Doesn’t make you any happier you left? Are you mad? When I lived in England I did the lights out thing myself. The kids that came to our door were subhuman vermin. These are the kinds of stories that make me very happy I came over here and ensure I’ll never go back.
This year Heidi and I have bought 4 big bags of candy and we are both looking forward to handing them out.
I lived on one of the roughest estates in Hackney, East London, for three years, and the worst trouble I ever had was a fat kid lurching at a bag of mini eggs before I’d opened the door. Halloween was fine.
Bonfire Night, on the other hand, was time for hiding under the beds.
Also, I just spoke to my two nieces (8 and 5) living in Birmingham, and they had a cracking time trick-o-treating. They got loads of treats without the police being called even once (they were too well disguised).
Halloween may be a bag of jelly tots in Park Slope, but do you fancy taking those bags of candy into East New York?
I was comparing a nice area of England to a nice area of America; East New York/Hackney don’t figure in my reckonings.
And when I say “subhuman vermin” you shouldn’t take me too literally, I was doing a bit of an Alan Partridge impression there.
I was at a halloween pub quiz last night but as I walked home I saw that the territorial army aided by units from SO19 had managed to corner 5 trick or treaters in the park near my house..
What a load of nonsense Paul!
What’s nonsense? The post was about the attitude towards Halloween in the UK, which ranges from dismissive to downright opposed. It’s quite the opposite here.
no it does not range from dismissive to opposed. yesterday in the office I had three different suppliers coming in handing out sweets/cakes in fancy dress, then as I said I went to a halloween party in a pub, I saw loads of people and children on the streets having a great time. Show me a housing estate in the UK where people lock themselves in on 31/10 and I’ll show you an estate where they lock themselves in the house 365 days a year(at night). there are no evil bands of kids rampaging on Halloween that are not also rampaging the rest of the year as well. Yes there are some urban areas in the UK where crime by delinquents is worrying but so far none of these hoodies have shot up their schools teachers and classmates. And your contrasting articles are on one hand city projects in the uk and the other nowheresville in the US (night John Boy!).
If you do not get shot, stabbed, kidnapped, elotrocuted, killed by injection or run over, as discussed I look forward to taking you to Malhamdale in yorkshire Paul. It’s clear you need to see more of the old country
Then times must have changed. Where I grew up Halloween was frowned upon as a commercialized American import.
As for trouble makers, you’re right. They were usually more of a pain on November 4, on mischievous night.
Looking forward to Malhamdale.
Where I grew up everyone loved this British tradition. I personally enjoyed it until the ripe old age of fourteen (although being sort-of sweet-mugged, along with my friends when I was ten wasn’t great). I know Simon loathes the peasants of Blighty (he’s from Lancashire), but I had hoped you retained some affection dear old Albion.
I think you have me confused for another Simon, I love England, I think it is the best country in the world.
The only major problem I have with it is the violence. Every time I go back I find myself in some intimidating situation or other. When I lived there I was kicked, punched, bitten or whatever else took some random thugs fancy. People I meet here are genuinely shocked to here such stories. And before you say it, I am not talking about East New York/Hackney etc. I come from a perfectly respectable middle-class part of England and I live in a perfectly respectable middle-class part of America. I am comparing like with like. People may shoot each other in ghettoes over here, but outside these nightmarish places, people are a lot more civilized.
True enough, Simon. Friday-night-closing-time meatheads are something you don’t get to enjoy in this country. It’s been a while since I was asked what I was looking at by a random stranger (my trips to the West Village not included).
EX pats are a strange breed, i’ve met them in thousands of Irish bars around the world and they all sing the same tune. Eventually I realised it was mostly to convince themselves rather than the audience. But then if you’ve upped sticks and left your friends and family behind, I suppose you neeed to believe in what you are doing.
That is part if it I guess Beau, but it doesn’t explain why foreigners think England is such a violent place. Neither does it explain why the statistics prove it.
Bottom line England is not a violent place. Foreigners do not see it as such either as millions choose to holiday here with their children when they could go elsewhere and spend far less money. I reckon there are perhaps 3 bona fide reasons for leaving the UK and these would be: quality of food, cost of living/tax reasons and the weather.
Today on the BBC: UK youths ‘among worst in Europe’
“”Measured against German, French and Italian youngsters, British 15-year-olds are drunk more often and involved in more fights, and a higher proportion have had sex.
In England, 45% of 15-year-old boys spend most evenings out with their friends, and in Scotland the figure is 59%. On the other hand, European teenagers tend to sit down for meals with their parents far more often.”"
what’s your point? Once again this is delinquents and once again I repeat that at least these kids are not shooting each other over their trainers, or blowing each other away in the class room.
Violence across the board simply is not a coherent reason for not living in the UK. weather yes, high prices yes, even food to a lesser extent but not violence.
There is no coherent reason for not living in the UK. In fact, I would argue that most, if not all, people who leave the UK do so because of pull factors (work/relationship) rather than push factors.
My point about hooliganism is that it is one of the few things, including the weather, that I do not miss about the UK.
I don’t agree about the food. I think the food in the UK is pretty good nowadays.
And as for high prices: I think you will find many people complaining about the same in New York as they do in London.
My mother-in-law, who is a devoted bargain hunter, said she thought grocery prices in NY were on a par with the UK–and she was converting the prices into pounds sterling.
Beau, I must be both incoherent and un-bona fide because violence is absolutely my number one reason for not wanting to return to the UK. There may be less violence than I imagine, but that doesn’t stop my fear of it. Your bona-fide reasons wouldn’t stop me for a second, prices here are as high as where I come from in England, I hate the weather here (too hot or too cold) and I think I should be paying more tax and getting some proper services.
Paul if memory serves your mother in law is Scottish. we all know perfectly well that the Scottish always find things expensive. Simon I was saying the UK is pricey with bad food and often poor weather but not in comparison to NYC, just simply in it’s own right. It would take a better man than me to understand why you chaps living in new york no doubt with windows shot out and molotov cocktails cascading of your walls keep harping on about violence in the UK.
Good weekend all, I will be at twickenham watching england play new zealand, that is the only violence will see in the near future
Nick, those were great days in Hackney werent they? Do you remember the evening when the classic VW Beetle was dumped in the courtyard? By the time we got back from the supermarket it had been stripped. Even the paint job had been stolen.
Beau and Simon, I’m sorry England is a violent place if you want proof I swear I WILL fight you!
Paul you’re right about the food in England. If you want good food it’s easily obtainable.
In fact when I’m not out fighting I’m in cooking. Something that Nick can vouch for.
By the way Halloween is for goths and children. As a form of institutionalised begging I disaprove.