Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Conker Time

Autumn would not be the smart without Horse Chestnut trees! 


Even now as an adult I would find it hard to resist this.


Temptingly shining at me!


I would have to pick it up and pop it in my pocket! 
We had a lot of cooker trees at our junior school and breaks would be spent looking for conkers and throwing things up in the trees to hasten their descent. A friend of mine recounted the other day that the first time she had broken her arm she had been "standing guard" on a gate watching out while her mates raided the conker tree. Great fun was had playing conkers with our prize ones dangling on strings. There was a lot of advice on how to make them harder. Soak them in vinegar. Bake them in the oven! I don't recall trying these tricks. I don't think mum would have been agreeable. Sadly these kind of games are banned by most schools these days for health and safety reasons.


As for that conker I popped in my pocket. Sadly when I find it there in midwinter when I am looking for my gloves it will be very dull and unappealing by then.







2 comments:

  1. It is sad that when you drive past a conker tree now you see so many lovely shiny fruit on the ground, uncollected. I haven't seen any horse chestnuts here but we do have giant acorns - almost as big - which are splitting, sprouting and growing within days of falling from the tree. X

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  2. oh yes I love the shiny colour of a fresh conker and pick up any I see to display but mostly I see the empty husk where someone else has found the treasure

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