Halloween Beer - Part 10

I had some time to kill today and wandered down the Old High Street in Folkestone passing two independent Off Licenses. Both had Pale Ale that I had never seen before with a Halloween / Gothic / Skull / Undead theme... Queen Of The Night and Magical & Delicious.

Saturday 11th November 2017

Whitstable & Elham, Halloween 2017

Spent a day out with a couple of friends yesterday, picking one up from the quaint Kentish village of Elham - and we were pleased to see the efforts made by some of the local residents.

Then in Whitstable we followed the Peter Cushing walk around the town, with our guide book to find all the places, shops and restaurants he frequented, where he sat viewing the sea, the house he originally stayed in, and the house he eventually bought.

Wednesday 1st November 2017

Halloween beer - Part 9

Well, what a pleasant surprise! Walking past an independant shop 'County Fayre' in Folkestone - that specialises in local and unusual produce - I noticed in the window a bottle of Vincent Price Ale. So I had to buy a couple...

Monday 30th October 2017

Last night's pumpkins

Well, there was a good number of entries this year at the party. Well done to Elena and Ben for winning the children's category, and Maxine for the adult's category.

Maxine and Jeff must get a special mention for interpreting the design on the ticket and coming as Stephen King characters (Wendy & Jack Torrence from 'The Shinning')!

Mark's Mummy costume didn't last the whole night - but at least he didn't leave straw all over the house as he did with his scarecrow costume.

Your host came as the Reverend Lowe from Silver Bullet / Cycle of the Werewolf... one of the lesser known SK films!

And the Pennywise (Tim Curry) pumpkin...

Sunday 29th October 2017

Terracotta pumpkins

Also whilst in Hythe yesterday I spotted these rather nice terracotta pumpkins in a hairdressers' window. The hairdresser said the thinks the owner got them from a garden centre chain of stores called 'Dobbies'.

Saturday 28th October 2017

Waitrose & Tesco... pumpkin savoury food!

After what has been a poor showing all round regarding halloween decorations and edible goodies from the shops this year - compared to last year...

...it seems a couple of the supermarkets have redeemed themselves with some savoury snacks. Waitrose has it's usual decorations with nothing of exceptional note -

...however in the chilled food section, not only was a butternut squash and feta pizza - but a limited edition pumpkin pizza.

And Tesco, in its frozen food section has some pumpkin and chorizo pasties as well as some witches fingers (breaded mozzerella and tomato bites).

Friday 27th October 2017

TKMaxx Ashford - Halloween 2017

I was in Ashford yesterday and passing by some of the usual stores that have Halloween stuff in them. TK Maxx's offering is coming to an end an they are already gearing up for Christmas. However on the display of what they had left it was interesting to see they had quite a different selection from my local store in Folkestone. Some of the cups and mugs looked quite nice... but how many cups does one need!

The chilli and garlic sauces looked interesting too, but at £4.99 a bottle, I decided to pass.

Wednesday 18th October 2017

John Lewis Halloween 2017

Was passing by the Ashford store today so popped in. It is a smaller store and only selling homeware but still had a display by the door, nicely presented. Again with the amount of decorations I have there was nothing in particular I needed. However the chilli chocolate looked good with its skull design packaging (but with a not so tempting £3.50 price tag for 1 bar!). Otherwise for a more reasonable £12 was a nice looking pumpkin design table runner.

Tuesday 17th October 2017

Poundland DVDs for Halloween 2017

Also when in Canterbury I popped into Poundland to see if they had a display of horror DVDs and BluRays out for Halloween. Sadly like last year it disappointed somewhat. Most of the titles were the sort of 'straight to Horror or SciFi Channel' movies that rely on poorly executed CGI that I avoid like the plague. Of the classic horror movie fayre were Halloween 2 & 3 that have done the rounds in years past. Stephen King's The Dead Zone looks a worthwhile bargain - though with a 15 certificate I doubt it has the infamous scissor scene - but I haven't checked this yet. On the BluRay front was only the 2012 Ethan Hawke movie 'Sinister' which has pretty average reviews due to its reliance on tried and tested horror film cliches. So let's hope they get some more different titles in!

Monday 16th October 2017

Yankee Candle Shop

Also whilst I was in Canterbury the other day I noticed a Yankee Candle shop where, I think, Build-A-Bear used to be. Again, these candles are a little overpriced for my liking... but do seem to be amongst the best scented candles around and they do last for ages, so perhaps my judgement is borne more out of stinginess than actual value-for-money!

The black and gold ceramic pumpkin was also nice and ideal for wax melts, but the star of the show for me was the white candles that drip blood-red wax when burnt. (2 candles for £6.99)

Sunday 15th October 2017

Body Shop Halloween

After many years since The Body Shop put out their fabulous Spiced Pumpkin shower gel, they have come back into the Halloween market with a series of Pumpkin Vanilla products (including shower gel). Smells a bit sweeter than the Spiced Pumpkin, and is a bit pricier than I remember!

Saturday 14th October 2017

Halloween Beer - Part 8

I was in a Morrisons in another town today and picked up a further 3 bottles of themed beer: Devil's Backbone, I've had on tap in Wetherspoons before, and Old Spooky Hen is just Old Speckled Hen with a plastic wrap design, however I don't believe I've tried Oakham Ales Green Devil before.

Friday 13th October 2017

Cinema in 1985

Only a few adverts from this year. I saw clips from Lifeforce at the time but never saw it at the cinema - what an underrated movie let down by an underwhelming title - they should've stuck with Colin Wilson's book title 'The Space Vampires.'

Anyway, interesting to see The Black Cauldron come round again in this year. I did see Dune, but whilst A Nightmare On Elm Street was showing, I would've been watching Mel & Tina in Mad Max 3!

Tuesday 11th October 2017

The Crucible at The Tower Theatre

As the witching season is approaching, here's a very quick plug for a local theatre company near me, who are putting on Arthur Miller's The Crucible, which is a suitably harrowing account of The Salem Witch Trials with overtones of American McCarthyism. One to go and see...

Tuesday 10th October 2017

Halloween Beer - Part 7

Again Morrisons comes up trumps for Halloween themed beer and at discounted prices too. They have the usual Pumpking Ale and Black Witch from the Wychwood brewery, but this year they have 4 different beers I haven't seen before: Black Sheep Brewery's Reaper, Shipyard Brewery's Little Horror of Hops, Robinson Brewery's Iron Maiden themed Hallowed, and Greene King's Gangly Ghoul.

Haven't tried any of them yet but bought a couple of bootles of each and holding out until nearer Halloween.

Sunday 8th September 2017

Sainsburys Halloween 2017

Had a look in my two local Sainsburys stores yesterday. Again, the usual costumes and cheaper end-of-the-market decorations; but unlike last year there was none of the slightly more expensive vintage looking stuff. But despite this year being worse than last year for choice, they still were the best of the 4 major UK supermarket chains.

There were a few cheap CDs of Halloween music - of which I bought two: a Disney compilation for £3 and a general pop/rock/indie compilation for £5 on which there were quite a few tracks I hadn't got. But the question that needs to be asked is... What's so scary about pandas?!

Friday 6th October 2017

The Supermarkets get into gear...

The major supermarkets in the UK have started in earnest to put out their Halloween supplies for this year. As usual there's plenty of sweets and children's costumes. Tesco disappointed this year with no real worthwhile decorations, and I tend not to expect much from Morrisons (except the beer - but more of that later!)

Asda's Halloween aisle hasn't rocked my world either this year. There's less if a Day of the Dead theme this year, thankfully, and things do seem to be flying off the shelves - but it is just the normal run-of-the-mill cheap tat. Although I do like the cream coloured napkin designs which look aged.

The LED proctor is back, but at £20 I can go without at that price.

The most intriguing mask was a tree-figure. It's only a cheap £4 mask made of thin plastic that will crack and break easily, but I do like the pointy nose and chin.

Thursday 5th October 2017

Pop-up Halloween greetings cards

Was passing my local TKMaxx today and popped in to see if there was anything new in worth buying - I found two hand towels covered in a jack-o-lantern design... and then on the way to the tills, noticed these rather good pop-up greetings cards. At £2.99 they aren't that expensive considering the work that has gone into them, and some of the designs are pretty good.

Friday 29th September 2017

Cinema in 1984 Part 2

Just a few more images from 1984. I must admit I can't remember the re-release of Raiders of the Lost Ark in March, but presumably it was to get people in the spirit prior to Temple of Doom over the summer holidays. I've never seen Nick Nolte in Under Fire, but strangely now possess a copy of the soundtrack on CD as it is performed by the jazz guitarist Pat Metheny.

But the best of the crop or 1984 was Gremlins. Ghostbusters disappointed in my opinion. And the less said about Ewoks the better! I erred on the side of caution on that one and, not wishing to undermine any street credibility I may have had at the time, didn't go to see it.

Thursday 28th September 2017

Cinema in 1984 Part 1

Again... I was too young to get into an 18 or X certificate. 1984 was the first year I managed to sneak into a 15 cert. aged almost 14. So whilst others were able to see the likes of Stephen King classics of Christine, The Dead Zone and Creepshow, I was still enthusing about: Star Trek 3, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and the 15 certificated, Police Academy!

Tuesday 26th September 2017