Trick or Treat?

In a country as God-fearing as the United States, it's kind of funny that people here - big and little kids included - really embrace Halloween. Walking around different neighbourhoods during the last week or two, it's not uncommon to see huge pumpkins, big inflatable gargoyles and demons, and the odd fake headstone with cobwebs, in people's front yards.

This afternoon, a few of us ventured down to Little Five Points, for the annual Inman Park Halloween parade. The rough and tumble feel of "Little Five" is a cross between that of St Kilda, Collingwood and Fitzroy. Along its main street, Moreland Avenue, are plenty of bars, burger joints (including the super blokey Vortex Bar & Grill, which no matter what time of day you go past, seems to be swamped by lots and lots of bikies), vintage clothing stores and record shops. Even during the parade, standing amongst parents and little kids (most of them dressed up in some very cool costumes - see Spiderman below), it was kind of strange to smell the strong whiff of cigarettes and alcohol.




Isn't he a cutie?? Wish us (so-called) adults could get away with wearing costumes like that.

In Atlanta, the one truism I discovered very early on, is when people say that showers here are "isolated", they really mean it, in that a passing shower can quite literally be hanging right over you and no one else. Since we've been having strange weather lately (rainy and cold one day, hot and humid the next), luckily the weather gods were smiling on us today. As for the parade itself, it was full of weird and wacky stuff - including headless men, old ambulances with skeletons in the back, fraternity boys in togas, vikings, a giant Chewbacca, a freak show, the obligatory line of hearses, and even zombie prom night...amongst many, many other things. And of course, with Halloween, all good taste goes right out the window...except for the high school marching bands that brought up the rear of the parade - so nice to see them get such a warm reception.










Classy!