Best of Three by Bob Barker

October means several things - leaves changing colour, halloween costumes, half term holidays...and conkers! In these days of political correctness and health and saftey gone mad the image of the boys playing conkers in the schoolyard or on the street corner is fast becoming a rarity, but when I was a kid we had a place called Conker Lane where my brothers and myself used to find a hefty stick and launch this into the the conker trees to knock them off their branches. Frequently the stick came down unseen through the thick foliage and caught you a quick one on top of your head. Undaunted we would thread the conkers, usually on shoe laces, and whack away for hours on end. Numerous rules of the game always ensured plenty of arguing with echoing shouts of 'clinches' 'tibs' 'stampsies' and other strange words. Always ending up with bruised heads. wrists and knuckles, we heroically carried on for as long as the conkers lasted. It was a wonderful time of the year.