A rant about a bygone era..

On the walk home from the station I nearly broke my neck stepping on what turned out to be a conker. This saddened me on many levels - I nearly fell over in front of many people - most of which were pre-pubescent and would have felt immense pleasure pointing and laughing.

The saddest part however, was that the conker was there at all. When I was little, finding a conker was one of those magical moments, seeing it there on the floor with its marvelous chestnut brown armour gleaming through the grass. We used to go for miles around searching for a conker, soaking them in vinegar and hiding them in the airing cupboard - anything to make them invincible.

Is it just that we live in a society so obsessed with risk assessment that the children no longer continue this age old tradition, or is it just evolution? Are the simple pleasures of discovering your first conker, hidden beneath a lime green pin cushion of a shell, just a distant tradition overtaken by technology? Why bother going to all that trouble when we can play virtual conkers on our PSP eh?

Well I have taken it on as my mission to pick up all of the conkers I see lying unwanted and abandoned, even if they aren't treasured by society any more - I will not leave them to rot on the pavement.

What a sad end to childhood.