Conkers

[erastes]

I think I’ll have a go at the Saints and Sinners short story competition. they want something a bit longer (5k minimum) than I like to do, but I’ll give it a try – my short stories are happier at 2k than 5k. Too much learning my short story trade with fanfic, I think. 5k were like—novellas to me back then.

For a couple of years now I’d been noticing how the horse chestnut trees around here looked brown and dying around this time of year, long before anything else started to turn – and now I know why – it was on Autumnwatch last night that there’s a new parasite—a european leaf miner—which is eating the leaves out of sync with any natural predator, and if something isn’t contrived to control them, we are looking at horse chestnut extinction which—in light of the fact that we’ve only had them in England for a couple of hundred years (brought over by John Tradescant in seven conkers) would be a bloody disaster. No conkers for the future children of England? UNTHINKABLE.

A friend of Dad’s neighbour called today and mistook me for Dad’s wife, when I said “i’m his daughter,” he said “Oh, sorry – I have a younger wife, who’s 60.” Crap. Do I look ten years older than I am?  *keels self*

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Comments

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Conkers! That would be a tragedy because before conker trees the lovely children of England used to play the game with snails. Trufax!!

I am frequently mistaken for my daughter's grandma >:(

[mysid.livejournal.com]

No, no, you misunderstood him. He managed to catch an age 60 hottie, and he thought your dad had done even better for himself. You're an age 50 trophy wife!

[m-barnette.livejournal.com]

Clicked the critters.

All these bugs getting moved from country to country, plus the addition of global warming is doing a lot of tree damage. Here we have pine bark beetles destroying the evergreens. It's one of the reasons the fires here have been so bad. We had a wet spring that grew the grass high then no rain most of the summer. Then to add insult to injury we have so many dead trees from the beetle damage that the fires spread like crazy once they get started.

[beckyblack]

No conkers? Something Must Be Done!

Of course the Health and Safety Executive will probably be delighted that this menace to our children may be wiped out. How many more children must get a smack on the knuckles with a ballistic conker before something gets banned? ;-)

Last year someone asked me if I was my Dad's sister. I started colouring my hair again shortly after that... :D Not a coincidence. Of course the person who asked was only 17, so anyone over 30 must look practically 90 to her.