What I was going to say was, I am shocked, SHOCKED to hear that kids trick or treat in shops!! Never in my California childhood did we consider such a thing (of course they’d all have been closed by darkness anyway). The main thing was to try and get away with going out for the candy haul once you’d passed age 12 — “a little old for trick or treating, aren’t you?” inevitably greeted you at a few houses, unless you were undersized (I was the second tallest in my class, sadly). If you were a ghost you could at least crouch slightly under the sheet.

Here in the north inner city neighbourhood of Stoneybatter, only four batches of kids braved the Beirut style onslaught of illegal fireworks which flew through the air (and sometimes, alarmingly, didn’t) nonstop between 8 to 10. These were not those little ‘safe and sane’ Red Devil fireworks of American Fourth of July events but great big things normally reserved for formal city firework displays and were so loud that car alarms went off continuously. Up near the North Circular Rd the kids in the flats had lit a sinister bonfire so enormous that I could see flames licking the sky over the rooftops from many, many blocks away. I was actually scared on my brief foray out (of necessity as the dogs needed to do their business, Halloween or no Halloween). I think I can say with confidence that there are indeed WMD and they are in Stoneybatter.

Of course without the kids I was forced to eat nearly an entire bag of miniature Lion bars plus some little packets of Haribo gummy bears (deeply disappointed at the lack of gummy cola bottles, which are one of the best things about living in Europe).

But it felt like it a rude, clanking school cafeteria that had somehow ended up in this gorgeous space. They don’t deserve to be still in business. I wish they had lived up to their heritage.

But the space and the customers were the magic. Ideally, of course it would be bought by Cafe Bar Deli, who moved into their George’s st. branch when it shut, and basically opened it up doing the things they ought to have been doing.

But word it that mouldy old H&M want to buy it.

What will happen to the Stained Glass windows though? They’ll hardly have to look down on racks of cut price socks.

pug.meetup.com/photos/

Pug Meetups have to be seen to be believed.

Pugs always look so confused and anxious — the idea of a trick or treat pug is perfect.

Thanks, happy hallow’d

BTW, dunno if you’ve heard — but Bewleys is shutting down. (I’m not too peeved — they were overpriced and had lousy food, tea and coffee IMO.)