Hallowe’en
Oh no. The plethora of pumpkins staring at me through my office window tells me that the dreaded Hallowe’en is upon me again.
In fact it has been upon me for three nights running already. My enjoyment of a pre-concert drink in the Poet’s Corner on Friday was interrupted by an invasion of costumed children all demanding money with menaces. I had similar encounters at my own doorstep on Saturday and Sunday too. Excuse me, but Hallowe’en is on October 31st. Not the day before. Or the day before that. Go away.
Hopefully, I won’t be in tonight to be pestered by any more little horrors, but if I am I’ll offer them this treat from the strange and wonderful musical world of one of my favourite composers, Charles Ives. That should scare them off.
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In the Dark 
October 31, 2011 at 1:51 pm
That’ll be the “Department of the Dark Arts & Engineering” next to Trevethick.
The wizards there discovered Dark Ale you know, said to constitute 3.5% of the Universe (well Cardiff pubs), and suspected to distort time and space the day after consumption. Warning: can also cause accelerated expansion of beer belly.
October 31, 2011 at 6:41 pm
If it’s the building I think it is, it used to be a private school: a private primary and preparatory school. The school closed down and the building was put up for sale ten years or more ago. There was a story that the University of Wales College of Cardiff was going to buy it, but I don’t know what came of that or what it’s used for now.
October 31, 2011 at 11:22 pm
It’s private rented accommodation now, obviously inhabited by the kind of persons who expose their pumpkins to public view.
November 1, 2011 at 9:31 am
It’s interesting that the building is not part of Cardiff University today. It is the type of building that could have housed some research group if it had been renovated. Cardiff University lacks the older, grander type of buildings that some universities have (apart from the Cathays Park building).
There are worse things that people could display than their pumpkins.
October 31, 2021 at 12:30 pm
[…] posted about this fascinating piece by Charles Ives ten years ago today, when I was still in Cardiff, but […]