Our Not So Happy Halloween

Well, not unhappy ... we just didn't have one, really.

Weeks ago Margo had already got Sarah's desired costume: she was The Flash. Red suit with yellow trim. She loves the costume. But when the actual Eve of All Hallows came around last night, several factors conspired to keep us inside.

One was the weather. It was unusually cold and very windy.

Another is that we haven't integrated well enough into our immediate neighbourhood yet to know what's going on. Due to the English Reserve, people have been friendly enough when we see them, but no one's come by to say hello since we've moved in, and we've yet to get (or make) any invitations for dinner or such. We do know our immediate neighbours, but none with children. There are at least two families with children further down our street, but haven't quite made contact yet: the times we do meet, we're in a hurry to get our kids to school, so it's hard to get good conversation going. We really miss our Portland neighbourhood group!

And thirdly, Margo and I were both too tired. Me, I was sick. I don't know if the Champs-Elyssées traffic pollution lowered my resistance, or the closed airspace of our hotel room assisted, but somehow I ended up with Margo's cold, and it hit hard. I could hardly talk yesterday when it got to my throat - Sarah said it sounded like I was yodeling. It's set back my contract searching by a few days too.

So Sarah stayed in her costume anyway, some of us ate a bit of candy, and we watched several "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of The Simpsons and Margo and I laughed ourselves silly.