It's over!
As my gravelly-throated ghouls claw their way gingerly out of the rubble to face another day, I pause to take stock of another memorable night out for the Cadies. It won't surprise anyone that All Hallows' Eve, Samhuinn, or whatever you care to call it, is by far the most exercise our creaky corpses get all year round; I think we covered that last time.
It's also become something of a Gathering of the Clans, where those of our creepy crew who have bidden our crypt farewell and stridden boldly out into the world come home for one night to relive former glories and rejuvenate their spirits with a walk down Memory Lane (or up Memory Close, in our case). Faces old and new mingle, fall down the stairs together, and fight over who gets to wear the Giant Flea costume this year. It does an old spook's heart proud that, be they authors, store managers, or political journalists, they'll still descend on "Witchery Towers" (as people passing our shop seem to keep calling it) for this rogues' reunion.
It was certainly made worth their while this year, as our new BFFs (Best Freakish ... er ... Fantoms?) from the Grassmarket's newest culinary creatives El Toro Loco were on hand all night to greet our guests with some of their spookily scrummy Mexican street-food sweetmeats (streetmeats?) to kick off their walk into the unknown with us. As Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is possibly an even bigger party in Mexico than Hallowe'en is for us, it certainly was a marriage made in Hell: their makeup and costumes gave us a run for our money!
My warmest thanks go to the toritas for making it an extra special night for us and our intrepid audience, and to our own dreadful diaspora of far-flung phantoms for helping us make it a night to remember!