WHILE in America earlier this month, there were two things dominating the news.

The Government shut down and Halloween.

It’s always intrigued me why the USA goes so big on the October 31 event - god knows how many pumpkins they go through.

The supermarkets are crammed with the huge orange vegetables and everywhere you drive there are impromptu pumpkin stalls springing up at the side of the road – think Christmas tree sales in Delamere and times by 100.

Even more perplexing is why it’s probably bigger over the pond than it is where the celebration was born – in Europe.

In fact, does everyone know the history behind Halloween and why we celebrate it? I have to confess I had to refresh my memory and google it.

My childhood memories of Halloween – albeit around four decades ago – revolved around duck apple.

The simple game of putting your hands behind your back and trying to retrieve an apple in your teeth that’s bobbing about in the bowl your mum usually did the dishes in.

Do children embark on such a simple game these days? If they do please let me know.

Where I live Halloween now seems to be about children knocking on your door and, wearing a cheap Asda mask, shouting ‘treat or treat’ and running off to the next house without even saying thank you for the copper / chocolate bars I’ve just given them.

And while we’re on the subject of fading traditions... Whatever happened to ‘penny for the guy’?

Now that really was worth handing over a few bob for when you could see the effort a young child (usually a boy) had put in to making an authentic Guy Fawlks effigy.

It was also a tradition that everyone seemed to know about. I wonder if we'll see any this year?

Driving around the US I caught a Howard Stern radio interview with Sir Paul McCartney.

One of his new songs is about a very old street game in Liverpool which I had forgotten all about.

It went ... ‘Queenie eye, Queenie eye who’s got the ball, I haven’t got it, it isn’t in my pocket, O.U.T spells out....’ I don’t know what I was more surprised at – the fact that I’d forgotten all about it, or the fact it’s been turned into a song.