My lovely, lovely, lovely horse...

[venta]

If the papers are to be believed, the under-18s of this country are unregenerated ASBO-winning delinquents. This has never worried me particularly. Eve told Adam that the kids were not all right and would soon be turning to murder, thus setting a pattern for all eternity. History does not contain a single era where teenagers have been held up as a

Comments

[stegzy]

Several possible reasons:-

a) Conkers are dangerous these days.
b) Conkers might take someone's eye out
c) Some children might be allergic to conkers
d) Some children might mistake conkers for a tube of smarties.

[stegzy]

e) playing conkers might be subversive
f) Playing conkers might encourage anti-social behaviour
g) Playing conkers might be racially offensive
h) Playing conkers might require imagination (imagination leads to subversiveness)
i) Conkers might encourage premature clicking of the post comment button

[leathellin]

j) Conkers is a competitive and confrontational game which might encourage violence and subversion
k) Conkers isn't educational enough, fun is not allowed

[uitlander]

I have to report that my evening walks around Burghfield reveal children avidly collecting conkers, although few appear to have made the cognitive leap of throwing sticks up into the branches to encourage them. Sometimes its nice to live in a cultural backwater.

[pm215]

Ah well, maybe one of these millennia they'll master basic tool use :-)

[pigeonhed]

I just saw a vision of kids staring at a big black monolith and then one throws a stick up into a tree to ge conkers down...

[lathany]

I was one of those weirdos who liked collecting them rather than fighting with them.

I will admit to disappointment that the duo do not yet have the conker bug.

[venta]

I liked doing both. Though I think it's one of life's great disappointments that conkers never stay shiny once you take them home.

I did try varnishing some one year. Unfortunately, I think I left them in my Dad's shed to dry, then forgot about them. I certainly don't remember ever getting round to checking whether it worked.

[bateleur]

Varnishing them means you can't play conkers with them, though. Or rather, if you do it's cheating. Just like filling a conker with Milliput is cheating.

On the subject of your photo above, I reckon that one on the far left looks like a goodun too. I'll have that. Good for at least six wins I reckon.

[venta]

I'll let you know how the far-left-conker does if I find anyone to play with.
(You didn't think I left them there, did you ?)

The varnishing wasn't intended as an endurance booster, just an aesthetic effect. I've always thought a bowl of shiny conkers beats a vase of flowers any day.

[phlebas]

I have a conker sitting on the table beside my keyboard. I think it is maybe two years old.

[brrm]

There is a massive bag of conkers outside my neighbours' front door (they have kids). There must be a good couple of hundred conkers in there. Balance restored?

[venta]

Certainly a good sign. Maybe we're not due for some kind of apocalyptic teenage meltdown just yet.