Show us your Conkers

[glenrobbo]

J4CKO said:

Its like it was conditioned into us chaps as kids that Conkers are precious, to be harvested and jealously guarded.

A frantic couple of weeks, at the start of which you remembered all the best locations and kept an eye out for new ones, then spent ages collecting them off the floor which was a rare thing to find as so many kids were at it, then perhaps even climbing up but more often than not hoofing a suitable chunk of wood up to try and dislodge some, worth the risk of getting brained by it on the way down.

it was sort of the prelude to Halloween, and then the main event, bonfire night, it signified the end of summer, nights drawing in and time spent gouging holes through small shiny things from a tree, optionally your hand.

Then the actual game, it was great fun and properly combative, I usually went home happy covered in bits of conker.

I subscribe to the "If you did this you had an awesome childhood", implication its all st now, we had bad stuff as well, Jimmy Savile for example but do kids still go mad for conkers ? I tried getting my three into it, they had a go and avidly collected them but generally we ended up with a bag of mouldy conkers in the shoe cupboard, found some months later as the source of the terrible smell generally attributed to my shoes by the wife.

J4CKO, that was so poetic and evocative:

It triggered fond memories of meat skewers through the hand and all the bruised knuckles from duelling bad combatants.

Oh, and string burns.

[Mr-B]

hyphen said:

jet_noise said:

Berkshire bred said:

I think they are good for keeping spiders away, something I am much in favour of.

Also explode impressively if thrown into the embers if a bonfire, ask me how I know

Mrs Noise thinks the same (about spiders) so I fill a pocket (or two) also

I stick a few in the wing mirror housing.

This best be true, I went out for a lunchtime walk in what was very good weather for the time of year, specifically to find conkers to attach to my door mirrors to flush out a beasty that's made it's home there. Fingers crossed.

Jayzee said:

Sadly, lots of trees are being wiped out.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk...

Article is a couple of years old, but I’ve noticed quite a few established trees withering away this year

I've noticed as I get older my conkers withering away too.

[glenrobbo]

hyphen said:

I stick a few in the wing mirror housing.

Thanks for that Top Tip!

That'll shift the spindly hairy-legged bugger!

Cheers!

[Wobbegong]

davhill said:

ambuletz said:

beyond playing the game of conkers or using them as a display feature in a bowl... what exactly can you even do with tnem?

Do I sense the birth of a new mega series from HBO?

Game of Thrones had its moments but Game of Conkers? Wow.

Not my conkers as well!

[Rude-boy]

JACKO said it better than ever I could.

Never forget the puzzled look on one lads face as the rugby ball another had thrown into a tree felt the effects of gravity and landed on his head as he collapsed in a pile.

School nurse gave him a once over and sent him back to lessons in the afternoon.

[Mojooo]

Its almost unimaginable that it would be allowed in shcools and I suspect many parents who played it when younger would tell their children not to do it.

I do stil lremember one aprticualr day when we found a conker tree and spent an entire afternoon trying to get them down from really high (by chucking things up there).

[Cold]

Jayzee said:

Sadly, lots of trees are being wiped out.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk...

Article is a couple of years old, but I’ve noticed quite a few established trees withering away this year

Unfortunately their seeds tend to get pilfered away from fertile ground by those who think they are magical and need to be treasured. So they take them home to throw at spiders or boil them in vinegar before eventually chucking the remains in the bin which isn't the best way to promote germination of replacement trees.

[Exige77]

Cold said:

Jayzee said:

Sadly, lots of trees are being wiped out.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk...

Article is a couple of years old, but I’ve noticed quite a few established trees withering away this year

Unfortunately their seeds tend to get pilfered away from fertile ground by those who think they are magical and need to be treasured. So they take them home to throw at spiders or boil them in vinegar before eventually chucking the remains in the bin which isn't the best way to promote germination of replacement trees.

Spoil sport