angels and devils

We went out Thursday and Friday night this week, so by Saturday night I wasn't so sure how good an idea the Halloween party was going to be. Turns out it was a GREAT idea.

We'd been very artsy fartsy and made some angel wings and devil horns, (yes, not the most original Halloween duo ever seen but it's a relatively recent thing in Poland so I thought we could get a way with it...) and I'd had great fun backcombing hair and overdoing the eye liner.

Put a costume on and the whole world wants to chat. It started before we even left our building: 'Is he going to fly?' a gruff man asked me, nodding in Marek's direction. On our way to a local shop for some beers to take with us, a fire engine passed us, on its way back to the station on our road. The fireman by the window did a double take and grinned broadly and waved when I waved my devil fork in his direction. In the shop, there was more. Sales people sniggered, a youngish guy dramatically proclaimed 'I've seen an angel!' and the lady in front of us in the queue shook her head and said solemnly, 'an angel with beer. It's just not right.' The lady who served us said 'surely it should be the other way around!' (see! I'm always doing my bit, challenging Polish gender stereotypes...) and told Marek his card had been refused. 'Just a joke' she smiled, 'I wanted to refuse an angel's card.'

People are funny.

The party was fun, and when we moved on to a club, the costumes came in handy again. Our group of ten or so collectively groaned when we arrived and saw the long queue. 'It'll be hours to wait, can we go somewhere else?' someone asked.

'No!' I said confidently (bolstered by the beer), 'we're VIPs, we can get in!'

I approached the nearest bouncer and smiled as sweetly as is possible with devil horns and wild hair. 'How long do you think we'll have to wait if we join the queue now?' I asked. He glanced at our group, noting the various costumes and said 'oh, ten minutes or so. You're all dressed up, you won't have to wait long.' I was surprised and tried not to show it. 'Should we get in line or can we wait here?' I asked, not quite believing my luck. 'Stand here, by the side,' was the reply, as a second bouncer turned a small group away with a 'you're just not coming in!'

Who knew exaggerated self confidence/arrogance would pay off so easily?

Soon after we were let in and, avoiding the poisonous looks from those in the queue, squeezed through the crowd, immediately attracting a host of people wanting to touch Marek's wings and make devil comments.

Apart from Marek's wand being stolen (evil cowface witch of a girl), the evening passed without incident. A rather large guy borrowed Marek's wings and pranced about in a way that made it perfectly obvious that wearing angel wings was a secret wish he'd kept hidden for years and actually being able to do it had made his night, if not his year.

People are so great when you're dressed up. I may get the wings out next weekend too.