October 31st. - Halloween and dinner at the Bowlo

Didn't do much today. Carved a pumpkin and made pumpkin soup from the scrapings. Saved the bigger bits for roasting. Soup recipe: saucepan full of pumpkin, one chopped onion and several potatoes to thicken the soup. Boil for 20 minutes. Use blender to produce a thick orange paste. Add couple of spoonfuls of curry powder and salt to taste. Simmer for a while whilst you chop 200g bacon into small lardons and chop up about 5 cloves of garlic. Fry bacon and garlic thoroughly then add contents of frying pan to soup and stir in. Simmer a while longer so that all the flavours combine.

We ate the above for lunch and saved some for Will's dinner. In the afternoon Di and I took Ollie for a walk on the beach and then to the park. In the streets there was lots of evidence that some Australians, at least, entered into the spirit of Halloween. Groups of little ghosts, witches and superheroes were being shepherded along by young Mums on their way to various parties and trick or treat outings. We actually had at least three groups come to our front door and luckily, Natasha had some sweets to give them. When we returned, I set up the pumpkin in the back yard with two night lights in it. I must say it looked really good. Ollie was impressed.

The last time we were here, we joined the local bowling club. These are an institution in Australia. They are ostensibly, clubs where you play lawn bowls, but they are really so much more. They act as centres of the community where people meet to talk, drink cheaply, watch sports on giant screens and to gamble on "Pokies" (what we call one-armed-bandits). At 6.30 we went down to the bowling club and I availed myself of their birthday offers - a barramundi and chips and salad meal worth ten dollars plus a free drink. Actually we traded the free drink voucher against the price of a bottle of Chardonnay to go with the fish. We stayed for two and a half hours because I was also given a place in an October birthdays draw. At 7pm someone won 100 dollars, at 8pm someone won 200 dollars and at nine pm someone won the top prize of 300 dollars. Actually, the guy who was drawn first on the big prize wasn't present so it was redrawn. Bet he'll be sick-as when he hears! Needless to say, I didn't win anything! Ah well, such is life! Good night!