HALLOWEEN.

Trick or treat!

 We are sure you have heard these words every year when Halloween is near. It is also more than possible that you have said their Spanish equivalents ("¡Truco o Trato!" ) while going from house to house in your neighbourhood asking for candy.

This is one of the most popular traditions related to Halloween or All Hallows'Eve, a celebration that takes place in many countries every October 31, the eve of the Christian feast of All Saints (or All Hallows).

Trick or treating is not the only custom associated to this celebration. We are making a summary of the most important ones:

-Attending costume parties. People dress up in costumes modeled after supernatural figures such as ghosts, skeletons, monsters, witches and devils.

-Carving pumpkins into jack-o´-lanterns.

-Lighting bonfires.

-Visiting haunted attractions.

-Playing pranks (mischievous jokes).

-Telling scary stories.

-Watching horror movies.

Have you ever seen most of them? We think you have, since Halloween has extended to places where it had never existed, like Spain. 

We wish you have a frightening and scary Halloween. Enjoy the videos! They can help you to feel its atmosphere.

Here we show you some videos of two famous Tim Burton's movies: "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Corpse Bride"

IDIOMS: PARTS OF THE BODY.

Do you remember the idioms we saw last year realted to animals? we give you now a new series of idioms, but in this case they make reference to parts of the body.

An idiom is a combination of words that has a meaning that is different from the meaning of the words themselves. To refresh your memory, we give you an example:

To sit on the fence can literally mean that one is sitting on a fence: "I sat on the fence and watched the game".

However, the idiomatic meaning of to sit on the fence is to not clearly choose a side regarding an issue: "The politician sat on the fence and did not clearly state his opinion about the tax issue".

Well, now that we have reminded you what an idiom is, you can look at the body idioms list below. We hope it will be some use for you.

-AS DRY AS A BONE

Very dry.

"The river bed was as dry as a bone at the end of the summer".

-BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER

Family members are closer to one another than to others.

"Blood is thicker than water and people usually support and help their family in times of trouble."


















-CAN´T STOMACH (SOMEONE or SOMETHING)

To dislike someone or something very much.

"I can´t stomach the new man I work with."












-EYES ARE BIGGER THAN ONE´S STOMACH

Taking more food than one can eat.

"My eyes were bigger than my stomach when I went to the buffet table and took too much food."

-GET A FROG IN ONE´S THROAT

To get soreness in your throat that prevents you from talking well.

"I got a frog in my throat just as I answered the phone to talk to my professor."

-GET BUTTERFLIES IN ONE´S STOMACH

To get a feeling of fear or anxiety in one´s stomach.

"I got butterflies in my stomach just before I took the exam."

 


-GIVE SOMEONE THE COLD SHOULDER

To ignore someone, to reject someone

"The office staff gave the man the cold shoulder when he did not go to the farewell party."

-HEAD AND SHOULDERS ABOVE (SOMEONE or SOMETHING)

To be superior to someone or something.

"Our soccer coach is head and shoulders above the other coaches in the city."

















-JOINED AT THE HIP

Two people spending all their time together.

"The two boys are joined at the hip and never spend any time apart."





















-A PAIN IN THE NECK

An annoying or bothersome person or event.

"This customer is a pain in the neck and is always complaining about something"

HYDE PARK: PETER PAN´S GARDEN IN LONDON.

Hyde Park is probably the best-known of central London parks. Well, we must start by saying that it is really two parks joined into one (Hyde Park, 142 hectares; and Kensington Gardens, 111 hectares). Its 253 hectares in total make it one of the greatest urban parks in the world and it can even make you forget that you are in the middle of one of the biggest cities all over the world.

In Hyde Park, you can do lots of different things: It offers various recreational activities including open water swimming, boating, cycling, tennis and horse riding.

Not everybody knows that the origin of Peter Pan´s story has its roots very near this park. But in fact, Peter Pan´s author, J.M. Barrie, lived close to Kensington Gardens and used the park for inspiration. He even chose the spot where the statue now stands.

Last but not least, the park has been and still is an important venue for events like concerts. Last July, the Rolling Stones played two concerts in the park to commemorate a famous one they held there in July 1969. But the park has been the venue for many other famous rock concerts: Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Queen, Elton John or Bruce Springsteen.

Hyde Park is home to a number of famous landmarks including the Serpentine Lake, Speaker´s Corner and Princess Diana´s Memorial.


THE SERPENTINE LAKE

Taking its name from its snakelike shape, this recreational lake was a venue for triathlon events in the London 2012 Olympics.

SPEAKER´S CORNER

If you want people to know your ideas about any subject or if you want to listen to the most eccentric opinions you can imagine, you must go to the north-east corner of the park. It´s a very special place.

PRINCESS DIANA´S MEMORIAL

It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 and it´s now one of the most visited places in the park.

Here there are images of the two Rolling Stones´ concerts.

To finish with, we want you to see a video clip by Cooper, the band from León, which takes as its setting Hyde Park. It´s in Spanish but we consider that it is worthwhile.