October Antics

And before we knew it October was once again upon us. We thought that with the twins having started secondary school last year, they wouldn’t be that interested in Hallowe’en. However they had so much fun, they requested a party at home to celebrate this year.

Whilst the preparations were under way in the house, we left them to it, heading for a Hallowe’en quiz at one of our local pubs The Forbidden Fruit. We had, sadly, failed to make any of their quizzes this year, they are always fun, but Hallowe’en tops them all. So we made the effort to dress up and head down to test our knowledge.

It is always an extravaganza of colour, moving models, their numbers increasing year on year, and light. Cobwebs and creepy crawlies bedeck the walls and we are encouraged, by virtue of additional quiz points, to dress up and decorate our table.

Many of our fellow quizzers, dressed for the occasion. Not that dressing up helped us at all with any of the answers 🎃. We were however awarded a few extra points for our efforts 👍. They were very welcome, as we put on a dismal performance. We landed 17th out of 19 teams. The team in 19th place was a man on his own and the team in 18th place was just a couple.

But its just for fun and a good time was had by all.

As the witching hour grew nearer, the pumpkins were carved and the decorations completed. It was much busier than in previous years as the boys headed off on their own, with friends to trick or treat and kids from some new houses around the corner, knocked on our door. Fortunately our daughter had stocked up on goodies to hand out. Our boys and their friends came home with a huge haul of sweet treats, enough to last a month, but we knew it wouldn’t.

The following afternoon was spent baking, and preparing for the party. When the twins get near the kitchen, you have to be prepared for the aftermath. They are getting better as they get older, but there’s still often flour smothering the work tops and plenty of washing up. They enjoyed an hour or so of creativity and of course looked forward to eating the product of their efforts.

With the house decorations now complete, the furniture was pushed back and the table laid ready for their guests to arrive.

As they went to get themselves dressed for the party and their friends arrived, we once again left them to it and headed off for an Oktoberfest celebration.

Having been away the month before, eating and drinking too much, I had the usual panic that I would struggle to squeeze into my dirndl. As it turned out, all was well and I just needed a bit of help with the awkward side zip 👏👏 So along with my leather lederhosen clad husband, we climbed aboard the taxi to join our like minded friends and headed off towards the theatre.

This year we were trying a new venue and a different set up. We were looking forward to the evening. The tickets stated a 6pm start, and arriving at 5.50pm we were disappointed to discover the doors didn’t open until 6pm and we weren’t even allowed into the bar. Their loss, we opted to spend our money on our first beer, at the hotel next door.

However once we arrived at the hall, it was well laid out, and everyone had booked their own seats so there was not the usual bundle to grab a good position. With two bars in the hall and two outside, there were no long queues for drinks or food.

We are normally entertained by at least a couple of groups, including an oompah band and a local band. This year we were carried through the evening by just one traditional brass oompah band.

Having already consumed ein grosser apfelwein (cider) and several large beers between us we were ready for the main event. Donning their lederhosen, their brass instruments belting out traditional Oktoberfest tunes, together with a Bavarian twist on hits such as Don’t stop me now. There was audience participation in the typical hand clapping, arm linking, standing and sitting dances. Definite participation in beer swilling and glass raising to the lyrics of Ein Prosit. Fabulous fun.

Broken into several sets of dancing and toasting, we had a short interludes to get our breath back, refill our steins and grab a delicious bratwurst or two, before we were up linking arms, dancing and again enjoying the evening. There wasn’t much of a dance floor so the tables were surrounded by happy, arm waving, boogying, lederhosen and dirndl clad revellers.