The crack of evil

It's Halloween, that time of the year when the fissure between earth and hell opens for a moment and all the nasty things sneak out. That's why we need to spook them back where they belong by wearing ghoulish Philip Ruddock and Alexander Downer masks. The crack of evil is supposed to open for only a nanosecond on All Hallows Eve, according to Celtic legend - but why do I get the feeling it was prised open long ago - let's say around Halloween 2000 - and never entirely slammed shut again? I might paint my toenails black in protest today - to match the cloud of CO2 emmissions that is going to get me anyway. At left, a pictorial offering from my trip to Dracula's birthplace in Romania last year.