LynnO’Rourke: ‘I remember getting to dook for a few apples’

I HAVE done my usual thing of knowing that an event is on the horizon – that would be Halloween – thought about it,

chatted to the kids about what we could make, annoyed my husband by telling him what I was planning and ignoring him when he tried to give me the ‘you won’t have time for all that unless you want to forgo sleep for three days’ speech, and read articles on how to bake/decorate/create all things spooky. You see, this was going to be my year. I was going to be the Kirstie Allsopp of Halloween – minus the posh accent. So you’d think I’d have more to show for it by this stage than one lopsided, grimacing pumpkin. And I didn’t even carve that.

What happened to the meringue ghosties? I hear you ask. Or the handmade costumes for the kids to wear? And those cool hanging spider mobiles that seemed so easy when I sat reading about them with a cup of coffee. Just that, I’m still thinking about them, which, strangely enough, isn’t getting anything done.

When did Halloween take on this life of its own? I seem to remember getting to dook for a few apples and monkey nuts (which none of us ever ate), and spearing apples with forks dropped from a great height once the fun of shoving each other’s faces in the water wore off. (Clearly, this was long before health and safety issues were much of an issue.) Still, the clocks went back today, so I’ve got an extra hour. How many meringue ghosts do you think you can make in an hour?

This week we take a look at a glamourous family home in Edinburgh on page 8. Thorsten van Elten takes simple, clever design ideas and turns them into reality for a living, and his home is full of examples of the unique design he loves. See for yourself on page 14. And on page 18, we get one couple’s self-build story that was a pleasure rather than one plagued with pitfalls.