I went shopping today with my family (dad, mum and niece). As is traditional in the family Smith, first stop was for a quick coffee before hitting the stores. Was just about to wander to a comfy seat with my latte when a suitably rotund witch acosted me and my niece to ask if we wanted to do the Halloween Ghost hunt. Now as you can imagine I don't really go for halloween, and was slightly offended that John Lewis (surely a bastion of demure Englishness) had bought into the loveless Americafest of Halloween. However my niece was intrigued by the lure of the lucky dip if she were to find the twelve ghosts hidden in twelve 'never knowingly undersold' departments.
So after coffee the quest began.. the first one in childrenswear was easily found, but thats where the error was. We should have just stopped at that point. But no! It got into our little heads (well me mum and dad's) that we should now get all twelve. How hard could it be? So, we split up (tactics folks!).. dad tried funrishing and drew a blank, womenswear was elusive too, but by now we had found linens and soft furnishings.. the quest was truly on.
The ground floor offered up its ghosts without complaint (and I got an airport extreme card for £50.. bargain!!!), which left us with four to go..
By this point we were clearly losing it- both dad and I considered mugging small children for their record sheets in search of the elusive womenswear ghost.. I was sorely tempted to follow two very knowledgeable looking infants (quickly decided that would be a BAD way to end my teaching career!)..
In the end- an hour and a half later.. we finally worked out that womenswear ghost was number five and my niece trotted off to get her prize.. a Thorntons chocolate broomstick!!
Was it worth it? who knows? Was it a slightly scary insight into my competitive side? Yes. Should I condone Halloween? probably not.. but how do contextualise it for a kid who doesn't do church and who just thinks ghosts are people in white sheets?
So after coffee the quest began.. the first one in childrenswear was easily found, but thats where the error was. We should have just stopped at that point. But no! It got into our little heads (well me mum and dad's) that we should now get all twelve. How hard could it be? So, we split up (tactics folks!).. dad tried funrishing and drew a blank, womenswear was elusive too, but by now we had found linens and soft furnishings.. the quest was truly on.
The ground floor offered up its ghosts without complaint (and I got an airport extreme card for £50.. bargain!!!), which left us with four to go..
By this point we were clearly losing it- both dad and I considered mugging small children for their record sheets in search of the elusive womenswear ghost.. I was sorely tempted to follow two very knowledgeable looking infants (quickly decided that would be a BAD way to end my teaching career!)..
In the end- an hour and a half later.. we finally worked out that womenswear ghost was number five and my niece trotted off to get her prize.. a Thorntons chocolate broomstick!!
Was it worth it? who knows? Was it a slightly scary insight into my competitive side? Yes. Should I condone Halloween? probably not.. but how do contextualise it for a kid who doesn't do church and who just thinks ghosts are people in white sheets?
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