On Saturday I took Sidewalker Jr. and Little Miss Sidewalker out to visit our friends in Red Bank, and then the two families went out trick or treating. Having not grown up the United States the whole trick or treating thing was as new to me as it was to my kids. Off I went with Mario and a little Zebra in close attendance to separate the local neighborhood from its candy.

I was under the impression that you just go to your surrounding houses and ring the door bell whilst shouting ‘trick or treat’. However as we approached the target area I saw a mass of people dressed in a variety of colorful costumes. Apparently the street we were in is a very popular location to go trick or treating, and people were being shipped in for this sweet-toothed heist! Wonder why there were so many people there so I asked a passing Witch why, she replied “because the houses are close together, and we cleaned out Toms River last night.” So I concluded the people of this neighborhood have to spend a lot of money each year based solely on their proximity to their neighbors!

However some houses were clearly not participating, one such house we approached had a big sign on the door: H1N1 NO CANDY.

I thought that was a very inventive way of repelling the costumed hordes, until a passing Zombie told me it was her piano teachers house and she had Swine Flu. So if you are a sick pianist in Monmouth County and you are reading this, get better soon.

When we returned to home base we were shocked to see that the candy we had left out in a bowl had been cleaned out. Historically we have had one, maybe two, visitors; but this year the whole lot had been taken. Is that an economic indicator? Is there someone out there that will be dinning on candy corn until Thanksgiving?

In other news, we added 4c to the Sidewalker Fund as well as getting enough candy to last a lifetime…

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $24.29

It’s Friday, so that means it’s time once again to open the Sidewalker “virtual” mailbag. I’m happy to make this a regular Friday feature as long as I keep on getting the correspondence. So I will keep you waiting no longer, here are this weeks offerings:

“I’m pretty sure I saw 10c on 5th & Hudson this morning, but “Ron Jeremy” the friendly neighborhood hobo probably got it!”
- VanessaG5484 New Jersey, U.S.A via Twitter
[LS: This is scary, I think I know that guy. The hobo that is!]

“You got me to thinking, H1N1 is one (of many) reasons why I choose not to pick up coins, bills are one thing – credit cards are good!”
- visualdeviant Nevada, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: This one had me panicking for a while until I did the research, and discovered it is very difficult for a virus to exist for any length of time on a metallic surface.]

“I recommend @LukeSidewalker – clever twitter handle, funny idea and charmingly funny to read what he’s doing.”
- BarbaraHauck Arizona, U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Thanks Barbara, another one to file in the "Flattery will get you everywhere" category!]

Just to show that we are fair and balanced here at Castle Sidewalker and the blog is not all shameless self-promotion, I just pulled this little gem from the mailbag.

“@LukeSidewalker you have THE stupidest twitter I’ve ever seen. Well done, you really capture the spirit of twatter.”
- saltwatersound U.S.A. via Twitter
[LS: Errr, thank you for the interaction, I guess. I appreciate the help in keeping me well grounded. I hope your day improves!]

Have a great weekend

-Luke Sidewalker
-Current balance $12.06