Welcome to another edition of the Speedo, your friendly informer of all things Speed related. Last week, Gosia and some of the students went to visit Wawel castle in Krakow, and Tanya lectured us about learning styles. Some people showed up to both of these so let’s see if we can get a few more this week.

Advanced Conversation Club
Thursday, 2nd November

Why not come along and chew the fat (chat) with Sean this Thursday. It should be fairly advanced so anyone on stage 9 or above will be able to handle it.

Rock Climbing Club
Friday, 3rd November

Would you say that you were a rather active kind of person? If the answer is yes then make sure you sign up for this at the secretaries’ office.

The History of Halloween
Halloween is a tradition celebrated on the night of October 31, most notably by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting sweets. It is celebrated in parts of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Puerto Rico, and with increasing popularity in Australia and New Zealand. Halloween originated among the Celts in Ireland, Britain and France as the Pagan Celtic harvest festival, Samhain. Irish, Scots, Calan Gaeaf in Welsh and other immigrants brought versions of the traditions to North America in the 19th century. Most other Western countries have embraced Halloween as a part of American pop culture in the late 20th century.

The term Halloween, and its older spelling Hallowe'en, is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening before "All Hallows' Day" (also known as "All Saints' Day"). In Ireland, the name was All Hallows' Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, it is still a well-accepted label.

The Longest Question
Imagine that you are sitting on a beach, let’s say, somewhere in the Carribean, perhaps on a deserted island, miles from the mainland and without food or fresh water, and the sun is beating down causing you to sweat at a rate that you are not accustomed to, causing large sweat patches to appear under your arms and on your back and making it difficult to see because the sweat is getting into your eyes, and you are sitting there wondering how you got there in the first place and also where you left your mobile phone. Would you gather wood and make a fire hoping that a passing ship, perhaps an oil tanker, would see your distress signal and come and rescue you, providing the ship was equipped with a smaller vessel that would enable people to reach the shore, or would you go and find the nearest mobile phone shop (come on, let’s face it – they’re everywhere these days!) and phone a friend or a member of your family and let them know where you were, even though you hadn’t a clue where it was?

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Bushism of the Week
“The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned firsthand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas.”
- Bush’s meeting was with Janez Drnovsek, the prime minister of Slovenia.

Something to do this Halloween
Trick-or-treating, Callan style. This is where you go to someone’s house and instead of just asking for a treat, you ask them Callan questions until they give you a sweet e.g. If you gave everyone in the village a sweet except me, do you think that would be fair?