Now this handcarved basket has a tale attached to it! I first saw it in the early 1990s in the window of a shop in Guildhall Street Folkestone that sold furniture. I must admit I didn't spot it first - that was down to two friends of mine who were even more into horror and halloween than I was, and they discussed this fabled wooden hand carved jack-o-lantern basket with awe and wonder yet tinged with some disappointment that it didn't seem up for sale as it had no price tag attached. (Now remember, Halloween decorations in the early 90s were a lot harder to find than today and usually complete tat, and the commercialisation that we see in the major supermarkets today was at least a decade away.)
Anyway, I used to get my haircut in a barber's shop in Guildhall Street that is now a café. And whilst sitting in the dowstairs waiting area passing time looking out the window into the street, my eyes caught this wooden jack-o-lantern in the window of the shop opposite. So ensuring I wouldn't lose my place in the queue if I popped outside for a minute, I dashed across the street into the shop opposite and took a closer look. There was no price tag, but an assistant soon pounced on his one potential customer, so I asked. Frankly I can't remember the price he made up on the spot but it wasn't expensive, and around the £10 mark I think. The owner of the shop actually appeared relieved to have gotten rid of an item he'd been unable to shift for some time!
So to my next Halloween party... imagine the surprise for my friends to see the fabled item sitting amongst the room's decorations! (In fact I had noted a melancholy about their pre-Halloween party discussions as they had noticed the disappearance of the wooden jack-o-lantern that they had stared so lovingly at through the shopfront.)
And the incident always reminds me of a Halloween episode from "Roseanne" where Dan and Rosie win the fancy dress competition at The Lodge and a $100 cash prize despite spending a disproportionate amount on their costumes! And Roseanne's retort is "Well we didn't do it for the money, we did it for the envy!"
Thursday 26th August 2010
