That end-of-October thing

Call me a grumpy old git if you like, but I have a firm dislike of the trick-or-treat business on All Hallows Eve. In Scotland, the custom is to go guising: dressed up, as trick-or-treaters might be, but instead of just holding out a hand and expecting loot to be placed in it, the guisers would perform in return for edible reward. The performance might be a (bad) joke or a song, and could be so dire that you'd want to cough up quickly to cut the performance short, but at least there was effort in return for payment. I daren't answer the door on this night though, for fear that I might appear more fearsome than any pumpkin or turnip lantern, or bedsheet-aided banshee, and use language inappropriate for the audience. Or I might just launch into a lecture about sloth and avarice, and completely freak out the nocturnal visitors.

Here's looking forward to November the 1st.