When our parents were still alive we made the trip to Adelaide...every, blessed year.

It was a nightmare, going from one side of town to the other, to morning tea, or lunch and then to a dinner that by then had no appeal.

When they had all died, that was it. No invites.Everyone just stuck with their immediate family.

I could get upset, but I don't. I see it as the reformation of family.

As for Halloween I have never been into it. In our street I saw no decorations at all, and there seemed to be no activity on the night, which is just as well as I'd only have been able to offer fruit or dark chocolate.