Candles in the rain

I popped out for a pint of milk which I managed to pick up from Lakeland continetal, It was about half five, it was dark, as the clocks went back last night, and it was raining. All in all a miserable evening. I had my friend Ewan with me and I suggested we take a detour on our way back to Sun street. Lets take a walk up Gill banks I said as I was interested to see Geoff Dellows candlelit walk that he was going to set up for Halloween. We made our way towards the entrance to Gill banks where we could see lights flickering in the distance and we're met at the start of the path by a couple of black clad witches. They told us that poor Geoff had fallen in the water whilst putting out some of the lanterns. Geoff appeared out of the darkness seemingly quite dry, I assume he had been home and changed, but maybe not knowing Geoff.
Before us lay a string of fairy lights, it was still raining, and some of the candles were being extinguished by the elements. However, there were still enough of these to light our way towards the top path. below us we walked through a magical array of flickering lights everywhere. It was very pretty and a testament to the dedication of a few people who had turned out in such foul conditions to create such a lovely event. As we reach to top of the rise some poor soul was struggling to reignite those lanterns that had been snuffed out. He reckoned they had upwards of six hundred candles in jam jars and even if some were not alight it was still enough for us to pick our way towards the ginnel that leads to Sun street. When we finally arrived at the point where we needed to leave the path there was even lights directing us towards the entrance to the track to home.
Clawing our way up the muddy bank we eventually found the ginnel and before long we were back in Sun street. It had been a lovely experience, even in the rain. I hope that we were just two of many people who took that walk tonight and I want to thank Geoff and his helpers for creating such a special, if not too spooky experience. These are the sort of things that show off our sense of community, and although at times I think Geoff a bit a cooky tonight I think he and his volunteers excelled themselves.
So a big vote of thanks here from me, you made halloween a bit special, if you missed it you missed a treat.