You know the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is truly here when shiny brown conkers start showing up everywhere. This Sunday they'll be swinging from strings and used as potentially lethal (well, knuckle bruising) weapons by all and sundry: it's Hampstead Heath's Conker Championship!
This is doubly exciting. Firstly, Conkers is a stupidly excellent game that makes us feel all nostalgic and olde Englishe. Secondly, Hampstead Heath just isn't mentioned often enough on Londonist and this is a great excuse to go and explore this fabulously green and beautiful place.
To get you in the mood, here are some things you may not know about conkers:
- On finding your first conker of the season, you should say: "Oddly oddly onker my first conker." Apparently it's good luck and should prevent you getting your strings in a tangle.
- There are Official Conker Rules. Study them.
- The best conkers sink in water. Floaters are to be avoided.
So that's you primed for victory. There will be knock-out rounds for five categories – under fives, 5-8 year-olds, 8-12s, 12-16s and adults. The winner of each final will receive a trophy and mad props from us if the adult victor is a Londonist reader. Photos please!
Hampstead Heath's Conker Championships "conker off" at 3pm on Sunday 7 October at the Parliament Hill Bandstand near Gospel Oak Lido. Nearest train Gospel Oak, nearest tube Kentish Town.
Image courtesy of warhead's Flickrstream.
