The Great Granada conker contest......in Rome!

A month or so ago, we were ambling around the Alhambra in Granada. It was a beautiful day with burning blue skies with dazzling brightness. As we ambled around the vast area that it covers, we walked through a terraced section that had chestnut trees. In that moment as a child, I would've longed for the experience we had. Always longingly looking up and throwing stick to try and knock down the best conkers. The Alhambran experience was quite different. The chestnuts were just dropping and bouncing here, there and everywhere. A glut, a deluge, a whatever you want to call it. For that moment, we forgot the amazing Alhambra and just collected conkers. Pockets full of them gathered in a freebie scavenger type mode. We promised conker fights, and stored them away until we found some string.

San Remo; that's where Jasper continued his scavenge and found some good quality string. Our rush, and busy time since then has not allowed us to complete this task...until today...in Rome.

The Toolkit came out and the conkers were bored out and strung ready for the magnificent battle of Rome in what was hopefully going to be an injury free zone.

Some practice rounds were had, then conkers were chosen. I played Jasper first, and managed to get my eye in quickly. After a lengthy affair, his conker was cleanly deposited on the ground in bits.

Great satisfaction was had. But he wanted more. A fresh Granadan conker was chosen and round two was on.

Another lengthy game resulted in a win for Jasper. At this moment, Maya waltzed over and wanted to play. A small delicate conker was chosen, and the two of them were left to inflict conker sized bruises on each other. This was avoided thank goodness, but Jasper had won once again. Games continued with much enthusiasm, so much so that I forget who has won what and what the score is. What I do know is that much fun has been had with conkers! No safety goggles or safety gloves. Common sense with an element of danger... I like that! Good to revive a game I haven't played for probably 30 years or so!

Ed