Halloween
Theres a neighbourhood near where John and Sandi used to live that really goes for it on October 31st. Halloween is a bigger deal anyway compared to the UK. The 24hr news networks focus on pumpkins in the studio with 'CNN' or 'Fox' carved in them. They also play stuff like the theme tune to the Halloween films instead of the usual news jingles. Which actually goes very well depending on the news story. "There are fresh reported sightings of Osama Bin Laden in the Kitkatistan region today. A group of horny college students allegedly saw him while camping in the creepy woods just south of Karbul. Gale Weathers is on the scene..."
Anyway, we met up with Bernie who lives nearby, as well her friends (the one in the orange wig) who had a golf cart and were cruising the street while getting drunk. The street we were on stretched on for about a mile or so and nearly every house had some form of giant pumpkin, tombstone or monster.
Even the golf cart had a Skeleton stuck to the front.
There were hundreds of kids Trick or Treating all the way up the street from little power-rangers to these teenagers in Sumo suits. The suits actually have mini-fans in them to keep them inflated which is pretty cool.
The people who lived in each house generally sat outside (otherwise the doorbell would melt) in costume with a huge pot of sweets which all the kids would go up and take after the obligatory 'Trick or Treat.' There were also houses that were dark. Very, very dark in fact. I think the idea is 'We're not home - please don't keep ringing on our doorbell. Why did we buy on this street?'
But there were also lots of houses where people would decorate their hallways with black bin-liners, spooky music and black lights. They'd set up special places they could hide and jump out to scare all the trick or treat-ers as they went in for sweets.
Nicole went as Wolverine from the X-Men.
John went as an England fan.
By far the best though was two sets of neighbours who set up 'The Walk of Fear' in their gardens. They must have spent $$hundreds on all the props and costumes to make this place look like a spooky swamp graveyard. Then they had people like this laying still or hiding behind branches as people passed then suddenly jumping up to scare them.
They even had this dude running around with a chainsaw! At one point he came out of a path opposite us revving the chainsaw and chasing about 30 screaming kids. He looked over and walked straight at us (he had the classic Michael Myers strut) and it was only when he was right next to me that I confirmed my theory that he'd taken the chain off and was just revving the engine... It hit me that I was glad to be in Naples and not somewhere like LA. There seems to be 2 types of people in Naples (3 if you count the ex-brits) Rednecks and Rich Folk. Neither of whom seem like the button-down psycho type who'd run around with a chainsaw on Halloween. I'm glad i'm not back in Hollywood tonight.
This giant god-like scary thing was made up using a basketball hoop on the garage. A simple idea that really worked.
This made me laugh. Bernie stood chatting to some friends for a while at one of the houses. This little girl was mesmerised by the pot of sweets that probably weighed more than she did. Each time she put her hand in they told her to stop. Then she looked mystified everytime her parents let a stranger have something from it!
Then back at home later on Nicole shared out the night's spoils between all of us (which is nice as she did all the work.)
This photo wasn't set up like this, John really was on his hands and knees waiting for the sweets. I think we both had a better night than Nicole, we kept walking doing the usual UK comparisons saying 'This is Amazing! This is what Halloween should be like! Imagine being a kid and doing all this?'
I wished I'd dressed up now, I'm going to next time. Theres such a party atmosphere around Halloween out here that I'm definitely gonna make sure I come out for another one at some point and do it properly!
What was the scariest thing I did that day though? I booked my Accelerated Freefall course and 10 consolidation jumps at the Florida Skydiving Center...