I sometimes wander off the aviation topic and today is one of those days... In beautiful Indian Summer sunshine this afternoon I walked from my apartment in Fleet, Hampshire to the local railway station, and on the way I observed a sign of the culture in which we live. Conkers... In case you aren't British, a conker is the hard nutty fruit of the horse chestnut tree.
As I walked along the High Street I passed under just such a tree and the pavement was littered with rich, shiny, mahogany coloured conkers - lying there ignored. 40 years ago every self respecting boy and many of the girls in the neighbourhood would have known the precise location of every conker tree and the ground below would be scoured clean several times a day. No matter, children would still gather under these precious resources to throw sticks up into the foliage and dislodge more reluctant prizes.
Now they lie unwanted - a lot has changed... Video games, TV and over zealous health & safety rules in school all have some responsibility.
Oh, and what did we do with them? Tie them on to strings and beat them to pieces. Don't ask me why.
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