tgo magazine live letters archive

Tony - I think you're probably right on the definititional front, but my Irish mother refers to crubeens so I've just adopted it :)

JJ - eek! I feared as much...

I can do mountains and deserts but jungles freak me out - think its the prospect of fungus growing in my important little places

fungus growing in my important little places

How d'you feel about ticks?
:-)

nothing to em jungles loads of trees and bushes, loads of animals and insects but you never can see them, the heat is all around but not as searing as a desert .Just dont get bit by a snake or a spider or an ant or a frog in fact dont even touch a frog .OH and depending on where you are you might want to keep an eye out for bigger animals too . Have I mentioned moquitos and pirhannas and all the poisoness plants, no well unless you want to risk annaconda attack you may not come across pirhannas.:)

> but my Irish mother refers to crubeens

Ah, that'll explain it:

crubeen kro­ben¢ or kro¢ben,
noun a pig's trotter, as food.
[Irish crúibín, diminutive of crúb hoof]

(c) Larousse plc. All rights reserved

Seems like the anglicised version of the Gaelic has a subtly different meaning; the cooked bit...

Ticks are ok if they are all in the right boxes, I feel.

Caterpillers. I detest them, they are squidgy and if they "land" on me after I've disturbed a branch with some on I run screaming and spend the next half an hour flicking off even more imaginary caterpillers...

Spiders and other stuff I'm okay with. Caterpillars though, I'd rather dunk my head in acid.

Good reason to detest some caterpillars; nasty ones found on Portland and elsewhere can cause rather bad rashes:

See UKC thread

I think it's the Brown-tail moth caterpillar.

I don't like mobile phones.

Irrational, I know...

:-)

Great... my irrational fear has been realised. LOL, cheers Captain Paranoia!

In all seriousness, that's a good warning because I'll bet they'll spread if the weather generally warms up over the next few years or so, but that's a different argument I suppose.

I have a pair of Rohan walking socks which helpfully are marked "R" and "L", I have to make sure I put them on the wrong feet.

What a rebel eh?

Brown tail moth



Another more common "hairy" caterpillar is the Woolly Bear caterpillars and are the caterpillar of the Common Garden Tiger moth and the hairs are mildly poisonous and can irritate and cause a nasty rash in those particularly susceptible!


Garden Tiger Moth



It's nothing personal mind ewe, the poison is meant for birds!

I have a horrible, all consuming, totally irrational and debilitating fear of sprouted vegetables.

Just takes a glance, and them im running round in circles screaming my head off while brushing off imaginary vegetables.

I have a fear of not getting enough crisps to eat...

smokey bacon flavoured?

<horror deleted>