Oddly oddly onker my first conker!
Boss: We're all overworked, tired and morale is low. What are some ideas we can come up with to keep the energy up?
Male group member: Let's play conkers in the office.
Group (minus Eleanor): Yay, conkers!!!
Eleanor (looking completely puzzled): Huh??
So here it has come to pass that I am learning about another great British sport (I use that term loosely) that only he Brits play. Perhaps it is like Cricket and Snooker that they have passed along to their former colonies, but from what I can find out, the game is apparently limited to this small island I have come to call home. Lucky me.
If, like me, you are wondering what in the world conkers is, please read on...
CONKERS: A FAVOURITE CHILDREN'S GAME
During the months of September and October, a favourite playground game is 'conkers,' a game which has been played every autumn for generations.
On the first day of 'conker season' you should say 'Oddly oddly onker my first conker.' Ok...(??)
What is a conker? A conker is the seed of the horse chestnut tree - a hard brown nut with a spiky protective outer casing. They fall from trees when they are ripe during the autumn months. Conkers is the name given to the game played by two people at a time. The first recorded game of Conkers using horse chestnuts was on the Isle of Wight in 1848. Until then, children used snail shells or hazelnuts.
How do you play conkers? Apparently, choosing your conker is critical. It should be firm, symmetrical and uncracked. You're supposed to drill a hole through the middle and thread a 'strong piece of string 25cm long' through the hole and tie a knot at one end.
Then, players take it in turns to hit each other's conker, letting it dangle on the full length of the string while the other player hits. To hit, players hold the string in one hand with the conker held above it in the other hand, then swipe at the opponent's conker, letting go of the nut but keeping hold of the string. If you manage to smash your opponent's conker to pieces, so that it comes off the string, your conker gets the score that your opponent's conker had, plus one for beating the opponent's conker itself. So if two 'none-ers' play, the surviving conker will become a 'one-er'. But if a 'two-er' plays a 'three-er', the surviving conker will become a 'six-er.'
In 2000 a survey of British schools showed that many were not allowing children to play Conkers as headteachers were afraid of the legal consequences if children were injured while playing the game. In 2004 a headmaster was reported to be outfitting pupils with goggles to play the game. This in turn prompted DJs on BBC Radio 1 to start their own Radio 1 Conker Championships. Top Gear later did a show where they played a game of conkers using cranes instead of string, and mobile homes instead of conkers making the comment as they put on the goggles joking "I now feel perfectly happy about being hit in the face by a caravan".
The real trick seems to be in 'preparing' the conker for playing. Much discussion went around our offices about the best way to prepare your conker, ranging from baking the conker in the oven, to soaking it in vinegar overnight. But my favorite tip came from the evening news (yes, this sport was actually highlighted by the BBC as a decent-sized news piece). The World Conker Champion (an 86-year-old man) says the best trick is 'passing the conker through a pig.' He then went on to describe this technique in detail, but I will leave that to your imagination...
You gotta love the Brits...I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!
10,000 steps
It's Sunday morning in Londontown. It's raining outside (thankfully not that cold yet) and I'm having a typical lazy Sunday morning hiding from the outside world...not quite ready to start the day yet. I highly recommend the music of Kings of Convenience* for such activity, coupled with a steaming mug of PG Tips. With milk and just a touch of sugar. I annoy one of the guys at work because when it's his turn for the tea (we take turns), I ask for (quite literally) a 1/3 of a packet of sugar in mine. And who said Americans were difficult?!?
I cannot actually believe October is here. I went to the supermarket yesterday and they had miraculously transformed their 'seasonal' aisle from bbq grills and sunscreen to Christmas decorations. Ugh.
Since I wrote last, got a chance to see The Bluetones at a tiny 250-person venue 'Spitz' on the edge of Spitalfields Market, East London doing a warm-up gig for their autumn tour in promotion of their new album. If you haven't received an email from Johnny M taunting you go and buy it, please let me know and we will ensure you are added to his mailing list. It really is worth it. For those of you in LA, I heard a rumor that they'll be playing at The Troubadour. GO!
Lucky me!
A nice trip back to College Station last weekend, filled with Blue Bell ice cream, migas from Los Nortenos and plenty of Piccadilly time. Little diva certainly hasn't misplaced her love of the camera!
Also had a great night out with Sarah, Cameron, Matt and Kirsti. Cafe Eccell and Duddley's were a nice treat. It was also my birthday (28 again!) but the less said about that the better... Brady K even came and met us at Dudds. What a treat! It's funny what people remember from your childhood that you have absolutely no recollection of. Are our memories (or I should say MY memory!) really that bad, or does reaching back 25-30 years just force memories to be selective - such as something you've actually recalled to mind at least once over the years? Or do we actually just forget things? Did my entire kindergarten class really come over to my house to watch a taping of our class visiting the local PBS station? I really don't know...
Sorry, Teo - there was a great one of you, but I thought you'd probably kill me for posting it!! :-)
I landed at Gatwick at 6:15 on Tuesday morning and went right into work. Interesting experience...found me understanding why the first class lounge "for important people only" has showers upon arrival...and wishing I'd had one. Next time, me thinks I should try and sneak in.... Despite being smelly and bleary-eyed, I was nicely surprised that afternoon by a birthday cake and bottle of champagne at work.
When I was at Target last weekend, worshiping this store I miss oh-so-much (just try it, I dare you, those of you who are laughing at me: move overseas and see how much you miss Target!), I bought a pedometer. I keep reading how walking 10,000 steps a day keeps you healthy. Now keep in mind I walk a helluva lot in London. It's nearly 2-miles to the supermarket and back alone, not to mention the to-ing and fro-ing to the tube, office, meetings, etc. So I tried out the pedometer for the first time yesterday and found that even with all my walking I had only made it a little over 7,000. Pathetic! It makes me scared to think how little I had probably walked when I was in LA driving everywhere! New challenge to everyone: get a pedometer and give it a try. It's time for me to sign off now, as I have a lot of ground to cover...
*Think of them as a modern day Simon & Garfunkel. If you're looking for a starting point, check out 'Caymen Islands' on the 'Riot on an Empty Street' album - perfect Sunday chillout tune!
