I was dragged up as a child in the British Isles. We used to have conker fights Drill a hole through a conker ... think they are called horse chestnuts elsewhere ... force a string through and tie a knot, then SMASH your conker into somebody else's. The winner was the kid with the surviving conker after smashing everybody else's. The prize was pride.
How long ago, you ask ? Pretty sure the war was still on, maybe it was still to come Most of my memories have cobwebs with tenure
The last time I had a conker fight was in 1953, just before I left Grammar School to go to an engineering college. We had rules concerning the length of the string, and anyone who baked the conker or used any other method to harden it was considered a low form of life. A common way to treat cheats was to accidently hit their hand instead of the conker. Banned at Schools now, can't have the poor wimps getting hurt. Regarding the sign, I'd add two more. + & x.
Re: conkers, am I right in understanding this is what Zaphod and Ford demanded on the main bridge of a starship, in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy? Because that makes the scene even more surreal. I assumed "conkers" were a snack food, or something. Hee. And, of course, I have another laugh at a friend, who read the line "it's unpleasantly like being drunk," "What's unpleasant about being drunk?" "Ask a glass of water!" for *decades* before finally twigging to "it's unpleasantly like you're being drunk, like a glass of water is drunk." Douglas Adams threw in so many odd jokes it's easy to misunderstand one.
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The intersection with Conquer Ave?
I was dragged up as a child in the British Isles.
We used to have conker fights
Drill a hole through a conker ... think they are called horse chestnuts elsewhere ... force a string through and tie a knot, then SMASH your conker into somebody else's.
The winner was the kid with the surviving conker after smashing everybody else's.
The prize was pride.
How long ago, you ask ?
Pretty sure the war was still on, maybe it was still to come
Most of my memories have cobwebs with tenure
The last time I had a conker fight was in 1953, just before I left Grammar School to go to an engineering college.
We had rules concerning the length of the string, and anyone who baked the conker or used any other method to harden it was considered a low form of life.
A common way to treat cheats was to accidently hit their hand instead of the conker.
Banned at Schools now, can't have the poor wimps getting hurt.
Regarding the sign, I'd add two more. + & x.
Re: conkers, am I right in understanding this is what Zaphod and Ford demanded on the main bridge of a starship, in Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy? Because that makes the scene even more surreal. I assumed "conkers" were a snack food, or something.
Hee. And, of course, I have another laugh at a friend, who read the line "it's unpleasantly like being drunk,"
"What's unpleasant about being drunk?"
"Ask a glass of water!"
for *decades* before finally twigging to "it's unpleasantly like you're being drunk, like a glass of water is drunk."
Douglas Adams threw in so many odd jokes it's easy to misunderstand one.
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