It's that time of year again, the nights are drawing in, teenagers are stocking up on eggs and clown masks, and pumpkin farmers are hurriedly stashing away their recent windfalls to see them through another year of supermarket squash frugality - yes it's Halloween, that celebration of all things glucose and gruesome...
In the balmy summer of 1989, there were two major global events taking place which would change the course of modern history as we know it. The first was a chain reaction of radical political changes, including the liberalisation of the Eastern Bloc’s authoritarian systems and the erosion of political power in the pro-Soviet governments, leading to the destruction of the Berlin wall; and the second, occurring a little further west, was my 4th birthday party where I was enjoying not only an excellent bouncy castle, but also that most coveted of childhood birthday accoutrements – a caterpillar cake.
It was only when I had to sidestep round a rowdy drunk, and avoid a well chewed wad of tobacco from hitting my face, that I realised we weren’t in the normally clean and well maintained streets of the city anymore, instead, I found myself on a street that at best could be described as ‘sketchy’ and at worst ‘down-right scary’. “Not to worry, just keep walking forwards, and avoid eye contact, and I’m sure it will sort itself out” I said to myself as the cute Korean disappeared into a block of flats, and I rounded the corner only to discover a dirty dead end full or rubbish and a large amount of shifty looking characters...
explore v. (ɛkˈsplɔː) 1. The action of travelling through an unfamiliar area in order to learn more about it
