I was particularly looking forward to getting my own back on someone I was having difficulty with from time to time. This person is negative about practically everything, which does nothing to help us get on or be pleasant to each other.

I had dreams of sending someone dressed as the grim reaper to his door to read out his last rites and successfully getting away with it in the spirit of Halloween.

However, I decided this would go against my optimistic nature and I tried to find a way to make better of the situation.

So I challenged myself to find something that I valued in this person to at least establish a starting point.

It was not an easy task, as it took me half the morning, but I persisted in finding at least one good thing about him. I eventually reckoned that his ability to find fault in almost any plan would make him excellent at scrutinising details.

So I called him up and asked him to help me with a programme I was having difficulty with, as I couldn't work out the finer points of the content. Then, as if a magical Halloween encounter was taking place, I found myself listening, liking and - in some ways, I suppose - respecting this person.

I saw a side in him I never gave myself the chance to explore before.

I'm not saying we are best friends, but we're getting along better. That is, until he answers a knock on his door this Halloween as I'm never one to waste an opportunity either!

David Simpson is an experienced youth counsellor and a regular SYP columnist