31 Days of Halloween: Day 10

I've dragged myself out of my sick bed for the tenth day of our Halloween month. I'm hoping the cold has peaked now, and I'll be properly on the mend soon.

Ducks on Trams

I had to do some social media posts advertising an event we're doing at work. I took a couple of little Halloween ducks in for a photoshoot, and they had a great time travelling around on the tram and the bus.

Chocolate Skeleton

Today was a long day, as we had an event on after work. Fortunately, I had a little chocolate skeleton to keep me going.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 9

Day No. 9 of our Halloween month, and the curse is truly come upon me. I have a very nasty cold, so I won't be doing much celebrating today sadly.

Wax Melts

We switched over our diffusers today, got the Halloween one out, and lit a Warming Cashmere wax melt from Scentered Serenity to make the house feel cosy.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 8

It's the eighth day of our Halloween celebrations, and sadly it's the day when the Curse of Halloween has hit. For the third year in a row, I've come down with a horrible cold during our month of Halloween. Urgh.

The Substance

Only one thing on today's list, as it was a busy day at work, but I did manage to make it to the cinema to see The Substance with a friend. We went to an early evening screening, and I was still feeling okay at this point. The Curse of Halloween reared its head after I got home, and by the time I went to bed I couldn't stop shivering.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 7

It's Day No. 7 of our month-long Halloween celebrations this year!

Tea Meditation

Today started with something that maybe wasn't strictly a Halloween activity, but I'm counting it anyway as it happened in October! I attended a Chinese Tea Meditation (Cha Dao) session with TsiaTe. It might not be an explicitly seasonal thing to do, but the sense of connection to nature and lineage, and the encouragement to slow down and be mindful, certainly helps when you're trying to live more seasonally.

Lord of the Rings Walk

And another thing that wasn't actually for Halloween... me and my brother have been doing a Lord of the Rings walking challenge from The Conqueror this year. We've completed The Shire, and now we're about a third of the way through The Fellowship. Today we got together for a walk, which (I think) took us pretty much to Weathertop. We celebrated, not with a knife in the dark, but with Warm Blanket tea and a Halloween cupcake.

Beetlejuice Fanta

Little present from my brother!

Parkin

I had to go to a meeting this evening that I didn't want to go to, as I knew it would be horrible. So I took some parkin with me. Everything's better with parkin.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 6

Day 6 of our Halloween celebrations, and we were out and about for a lot of the day.

Litter-Pick in the Park

This morning kicked off with the monthly Friends of Crumpsall Park litter-pick. Mostly, this was an excuse to take pictures of mushrooms, golden leaves and cobwebs.

Roam for Cats

In the afternoon, Rob and I went for a 5-mile walk as part of our Cats Protection Roam for Cats challenge (we're a bit behind our target of 100 miles).

D is for Death Line

Continuing our Horror A-Z with Death Line...

E is for Eden Lake

... and then Eden Lake.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 5

Another day of celebrating Halloween, and we stepped things up a gear today as it was our first proper day together. Lots of seasonal stuff to do...

Squash

Rob bought a squash today. We named him Mick. Okay, I named him Mick, because I misheard Rob reading 'Mixed Squash' off the label.

Wax Melts

We lit our diffuser today, with a Pumpkin Spice wax melt from Scentered Serenity.

Halloween Decorations

Today was the day we put our Halloween decorations up. There's quite a lot going on in the living room, and the bathroom is filled with Halloween ducks now.

Halloween Biscuits

Rob went out to get some Halloween cakes or biscuits to celebrate getting the decorations up. The shop near us didn't have anything with a Halloween theme, so he just got some Viennese twists and put them on a plate with a ghost on it.

A is for An American Werewolf in London

For this October, we've put together an A-Z of horror films (all personal preference, of course). This afternoon, we kicked off with An American Werewolf in London.

Orphans of the Carnival

Started a new book today... Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch.

Squash Gratin

We ate Mick.

B is for Barbarian

The next film in our A-Z was Barbarian.

C is for Candyman

And then we watched Candyman.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 4

Another day of celebrating Halloween. It was a bit of a low-key day, as I was at work, but still a few nice spooky things.

Desk Spider

I was working downstairs in the museum this morning, and when I came upstairs to the office at lunchtime, my manager had put a spider on my laptop.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

And continuing the spooky office theme, I took some Clayton Park Pumpkin Spice Cookies in today.

Abominable Books

When I got home, I realized I still had my Abominable Book Club box from September to open. I got The Dead Take the A Train by Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey and Delicate Condition by Danielle Rollins this time, plus some other goodies including Black Forest Gateau from Gnaw Chocolate.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 3

It's the third day of our Halloween celebrations!

Defeat the Librarian

Okay, so the things I did today weren't technically Halloween things (or, indeed, spooky), but I've sort of got a tendency to describe everything I do in October as a Halloween event. Case in point... myself and a colleague went to the Defeat the Librarian quiz at the Portico Library tonight (any resemblance to a certain Channel 4 comedy quiz show is purely coincidental).

Dinner at Wagamama

And then we went to dinner at Wagamama. Yeah, you might say this isn't a Halloween thing, but I had Pulled Shiitake Koyo Bowl, and what could be more seasonal than a mushroom?

31 Days of Halloween: Day 2

It's the second day of our Halloween celebrations for this year!

Harlequin Squash

Spooky season is also squash season. And right on cue, we got a harlequin squash in our Groobarbs veg box today! (Not sure if we'll go as crazy for squashes as we did last year, but you never know.)

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue

This is absolutely a Halloween tradition for me... it isn't October until I've watched The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue! We went to a screening at Cultplex this evening, as that's the one place you can guarantee will screen this absolute classic every year.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 1

It begins! Once again, we're celebrating Halloween for the entire month of October. I have no idea if we'll be able to top the past couple of years (I mean, will anything top the year I walked on fire?!), but we have a lot of nice things planned for the spooky season. And away we go...

Mummy Cake Pop

Apparently, I'm still not immune to the commercialization of the seasons.

Halloween Chocolates

My mum and dad got us a little Halloween present in September, and we've been saving it for today. Not sure if we'll eat all this chocolate in one day, but I doubt it'll last until the 31st.

My Year in Books 2024: September

Well, just one book on this month's list. Like last month, I seem to have been so busy with writing and research that I haven't had much time for reading for fun. Ah well. I'm sure I'll catch up.

In case you're curious, here are my reviews from the rest of the year so far: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August

Fellside by M.R. Carey (2016)

I loved The Girl With All the Gifts (who didn’t?), but somehow I missed Fellside when it came out. I might be late to the party, but I finally decided to put that right. Fellside is a long book, but I found myself quite immersed in it. It’s also not quite the story I was expecting. The story begins with Jess Moulson, a young woman who wakes up with horrific burns and no clear memories of how she got them. When she’s arrested and tried for starting a house fire in which a young boy died, Jess accepts that she’s done something terrible. Jess is convicted and sent to Fellside, a maximum security prison in Yorkshire. There’s something in Fellside – a ghost, I guess you could call it – that wants to speak to Jess, if she’ll listen to the message it has for her. I went into this one expecting the story to focus on the events that led up to the fire for which Jess was charged, but this turned out to be more of a side-plot. The real story is about what’s going on inside Fellside, and a drug operation run by the larger-than-life Harriet Grace. I’ll admit I worked out what was going on before the big reveal (specifically the one related to the ghost that’s speaking to Jess), and I did find some elements of the story to be a bit too drawn out. However, it’s very readable and at times I couldn’t put it down.

3 Minute Scares is back for its ninth nailbiting year!

North Manchester FM’s Halloween creative writing competition is open for submissions for 2024.

Hannah's Bookshelf, the weekly literature show on North Manchester FM, wants your scary stories for Halloween! Once again, I'm asking people throughout Greater Manchester to submit their 3-minute stories for my annual creative writing competition. Writers keen to be crowned Greater Manchester’s Spookiest Wordsmith can submit a recording of their mini-tale via my website, with the best entries being broadcast on the Hannah’s Bookshelf Halloween Special on Saturday 26th October.

I'm delighted to announce that the prize for this year’s best entry is a fabulous Halloween book bundle (with a few little surprises). Entries need to be 3 minutes long, meaning a word count of around 350-400 words. The judges will be looking for style and originality, as well as how scary the story is. The deadline for entries is midnight on Wednesday 16th October.

All you need to enter the competition is a computer with a microphone… and a good story. Entries can be recorded via my website. More information and rules of the competition, including information for people unable to submit a recording, can also be found on my website.