The house next door is up for sale. The family have moved out. The apples are dropping off the trees onto the lawn. I had forgotten how much more delicious apples taste when you've scrumped them.
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Are you serious?!? I would feel like choking if I tried to eat something I'd stolen!
I never went scrumping, I didn't have to. Grandma had two eating apple trees, a pear, 2 plums plus assorted blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes, strawberries and loganberries. In fact, naughty boys used to scrump in our garden, in spite of the box of windfalls left at the gate for people to help themselves
And the trees weren't the modern titchy kind. They were full-size trees and had masses of fruit. Grandma used to store apples and pears wrapped in paper and not touching each other in boxes under the bed in the cold spare room, and we ate home-grown fruit all through the winter
You're right, of course, anonymous. It's much more moral to let them fall on the ground and rot. I'd feel like choking if criticised somebody without identifying myself, but that's just me.
Picking up abandoned apples: no problem. Stealing apples in the past(as you imply) AND enjoying them all the more for that AND bragging about it: ugly.
P.S. What does it say about a culture that it finds it necessary to invent a word for apple-stealing? (Had to look that up in my Funk & Wagnalls to be sure it meant what your context implied.) Much like the Germans and Schadenfreude...
P.P.S. Does my not bothering to make up a user name make my observation less valid?
Anonymous - What's the difference between picking them off the ground and picking them off the tree? The owners are 200 miles away and will not be returning to collect either the windfalls or the apples on the tree. I'm deliberately taking only a few so other people in the neighbourhood can do the same until new owners move in. And I'm taking care not to damage any branches. The apples I scrumped in the past were also from a long-abandoned house. And yes, your not bothering to give a name does make your opinions less valid, it's cowardly. Frankly it's trolling. If I get any more anonymous comments from Comcast Cable in the USA I'll delete them (I have logs, you see). But if you care to give a name and play nice you're welcome to contribute.
A friend's cat reputedly brought home a pheasant and was trying to pass it off as her own kill. The tyre marks through the bird's middle were a bit of a giveaway. Points for trying.
As a nine year old I was walking past a house's garden when this bloke came flying out, through me against his fence and roundly abused me for stealing his apples. He turned out my pockets and finding nothing went all apologetic and gave me a shilling. This was in the late '50's. Bloody good job he didn't grab me the day before!
I scrump apples and I am not ashamed. I don't see anyone else using them! And don't give me that "moral" nonsense. It's nature. Apples are edible fruits born from trees that were planted in the ground. By man or by accident, it makes no difference. Man does not own nature, it is quite the opposite. So I eat, feel quite good about it, and am on my merry way.
The house next door is up for sale. The family have moved out. The apples are dropping off the trees onto the lawn. I had forgotten how much more delicious apples taste when you've scrumped them.
11 comments:
Are you serious?!? I would feel like choking if I tried to eat something I'd stolen!
I never went scrumping, I didn't have to. Grandma had two eating apple trees, a pear, 2 plums plus assorted blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes, strawberries and loganberries. In fact, naughty boys used to scrump in our garden, in spite of the box of windfalls left at the gate for people to help themselves
And the trees weren't the modern titchy kind. They were full-size trees and had masses of fruit. Grandma used to store apples and pears wrapped in paper and not touching each other in boxes under the bed in the cold spare room, and we ate home-grown fruit all through the winter
You're right, of course, anonymous. It's much more moral to let them fall on the ground and rot. I'd feel like choking if criticised somebody without identifying myself, but that's just me.
Picking up abandoned apples: no problem. Stealing apples in the past(as you imply) AND enjoying them all the more for that AND bragging about it: ugly.
P.S. What does it say about a culture that it finds it necessary to invent a word for apple-stealing? (Had to look that up in my Funk & Wagnalls to be sure it meant what your context implied.) Much like the Germans and Schadenfreude...
P.P.S. Does my not bothering to make up a user name make my observation less valid?
Anonymous - What's the difference between picking them off the ground and picking them off the tree? The owners are 200 miles away and will not be returning to collect either the windfalls or the apples on the tree. I'm deliberately taking only a few so other people in the neighbourhood can do the same until new owners move in. And I'm taking care not to damage any branches. The apples I scrumped in the past were also from a long-abandoned house. And yes, your not bothering to give a name does make your opinions less valid, it's cowardly. Frankly it's trolling. If I get any more anonymous comments from Comcast Cable in the USA I'll delete them (I have logs, you see). But if you care to give a name and play nice you're welcome to contribute.
I think anonymous is a wind-up Mel. Either that or they're a really crap troll.
Crap troll gets my vote. Honestly, where's your sense of fun?
...and yes, scrumped stuff is much nicer. Ask any cat. A friend's moggy arrived home with a scrumped pork chop while I was there. It was still warm.
A friend's cat reputedly brought home a pheasant and was trying to pass it off as her own kill. The tyre marks through the bird's middle were a bit of a giveaway. Points for trying.
As for choking on stolen goods, maybe El Crapola Troll has a point - if I nicked a telly and strted to chow down I reckon I'd kark it pretty quick :-D
And there's some more obscure language for them to google. God but I'm all heart me!
As a nine year old I was walking past a house's garden when this bloke came flying out, through me against his fence and roundly abused me for stealing his apples.
He turned out my pockets and finding nothing went all apologetic and gave me a shilling. This was in the late '50's.
Bloody good job he didn't grab me the day before!
I scrump apples and I am not ashamed. I don't see anyone else using them! And don't give me that "moral" nonsense. It's nature. Apples are edible fruits born from trees that were planted in the ground. By man or by accident, it makes no difference. Man does not own nature, it is quite the opposite. So I eat, feel quite good about it, and am on my merry way.
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