Halloween Production

A jack-o-lantern drawn with chalk near Kensington Market

After friday I my "cold" resurfaced, this time different symptoms, stuffed up sinus, crap in the lungs, goop in the eyes, flipped sleep schedule. My friend Andrew blames my sickness on chemical trails mainly due to the fact that the symptoms are in greater numbers then when I was a kid and that I've been getting sick a lot. Personally I still think it's from over working and keeping odd hours.

After another weekend of burying myself under a ton of blankets, today the cold had gotten down to a point where it was just a reoccurring cough, maybe one every two hours or so. The big thing today was meeting my parents and Dave (cousin) for dinner. An appointment I almost forgot if it weren't for my calendar.

I forgot it was Halloween. Kate and Lisa, my two upstairs neighbours were on the porch giving candies out to the local ghouls. Mostly little tiny spider-men, angels, devils, ghosts, and cartoon characters being escorted by their parents.

I thought up some quick ideas for Halloween get ups if you're in a pinch (WARNING some bordering on lame)

• duct tape a flashing red bike light to your right hand = instant runner from Logan's run


• glue smarties to a pair of shorts and wearing them = Mr. Smartie pants (I can't take credit for this one)


• grab your bathroom plunger = Mario, Luigi of Nintendo fame, or Roger Wilco from Space Quest (it's Halloween use your freakin' imagination)

After dinner with the parents we ending up on a street in Riverdale. My parents were blabbing about some kind of Halloween production going on the neighborhood. My cousin and I looked at each other and shrugged. The thought of some over zealous parent jumping out from behind a styrofoam tombstone came to mind. "Production value... yeah whatever". Dave thought the same thing.

As we walked up Howland toward the "big production" we started hearing amplified voices. Squinting into the distance I noticed a movie screen attached to one of the houses with video playing. Holy cow! It is a big production! There was a stage built in front of the house with people enacting some kind of play all dressed in costumes. Flood lights were attached to a tree across the street. There were even benches for small audience members on the sidewalk. We couldn't get to the stage as the street was packed with kids and adults alike.


The big production on some street in Riverdale.

As we managed to see the last five, ten minutes of the play and video extravaganza I managed to snap a few pictures. I'll have to make a note of going back next year. Supposedly this is an annual thing.