Scary stuff…

The American take on Halloween is far more nuanced that ours. We’ve got a ‘grab and run’ mentality to Halloween – get dressed up in shop-bought ‘scary’ costumes and raid the neighbours’ sweetie cupboard.  They take a subject and dress it up – this year, no doubt, climate change will feature heavily.  The children take their aspirations and translate them into costumes too – hence why you’ll find kids walking around as pilots or doctors (of the normal kind, not the demented or deranged horror movie versions). 

If we were located in America, rather than middle England, we’d embrace this approach in true Tinker and Fix style. The subject we’d tackle would be ‘disposability’ – if we had any ounce of costume making ability we’d dress as a toaster that you can’t replace the heating elements in, or anything mechanical that’s surrounded by a plastic case designed never to be opened. 

The aspiration we’d dress up as would be a bit more difficult than said toaster or engine bay.  Perhaps we’d make a statement and dress up as a mechanic – not of the Formula One variety – but a normal person who could easily change their own oil or tires, or service their car without the need for specialist equipment.  Or perhaps we’d go even more esoteric and go as a teacher or parent who encourages their kids to ‘unbox’ tools from the garage and use them to build, break or repair something, rather than watching toy ‘unboxings’ on YouTube.  Normally we wouldn’t want to sound sanctimonious (just not our style) - but hey, this is Halloween after all, and the scariest reality is that the skills of fixing and repairing are flying out the window quicker than a bat looking for its next bite. 

*Full credit for this amazing 'Trumpkin' goes to our friend Emma.  


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