I give in, I’m a Halloween convert. Australians need it as much as anyone

‘Growing numbers of Australian friends and neighbours have taught themselves the art of icing spooky biscuits, cobwebbing doorways and doing pumpkin-carvy things to carbon-responsible supplies of local fruit.’ Photograph: Jamila Rizvi/The Guardian

Witches’ hats are in the shops, my friend is making graveyard cakes, the local party invitations have arrived, festooned with skulls and cobwebs. Halloween has won, and the 31 October event has fixed itself in Australia’s retail and social calendar.

The kids are excited, yet there remain locals whom the imported rituals annoy.