Julia has been busy. To be fair, she is always busy. She is not a relaxing person to be married to in this respect as she sometimes resembles a small whirlwind of activity. I, on the other hand, am content to sit and wait for things to happen. That’s why I used to like fishing. It’s a relaxing way to spend time watching nature, spoiled only by the occasional fish that bothers the bait. There is enough of a hunter within me to actually bait the hook, but I did sometimes wonder if it would be better to omit the bait.

Anyway, philosophy apart, we have, as you may be able to tell, a herd of undead reindeer haunting our Christmas. Well, they look like that to me – a swaying mass of reindeer with clattering antlers, bright red noses and chocolates concealed in their midriffs. She delivered them to the wood turning group last week as part of the fund-raising effort for next month. Her brother makes her the figures and she assembles them.

The other picture is the spider she made for the competition at the group – 2nd in the Novice category. It’s actually a skittle on its side with googly eyes and wire legs with beads on them. With that and the painting prizes I’m beginning to think she may be getting a little too competitive in retirement.

As a further example of this, she has laid waste to the garden today and now needs rehydrating. I no longer work hard enough to make myself feel tired, though I do sometimes have to break off to operate a kettle.

Some photos are from the Halloween drone lightshow Julia and my sister went to – a little blurred due to light levels. Others are the reindeer and the spider. I can see a time when drones take over from fireworks, which will be a bit of a relief as we won’t have so much noise or so many injuries each autumn. I’m afraid that as an adult I am becoming a bit of a fireworks killjoy. My only worry about it is that we will replace Bonfire night with Halloween as one more step to losing our culture, as firs and gunpowder give way to plastic and “candy”.

The Legion of Zombie Reindeer – where Halloween meets Christmas . . .