mrwaverly

They grow on a tree, the Elder (sambucus nigra). It flowers April to May. The flowers grow in small bunches. They are pleasantly crisp when young, and have a taste like a fruity white wine. Indeed, they can be used to make wine. Us English have been using the flowers to make drinks, alcoholic, and non alcoholic, for centuries. Another pleasant thing is to gather bunches of flowers, wash them carefully, and then dip them in a thin sweet batter, and then fry them until crisp. My only regret is that Elder won't grow in my garden. All the nasty pig bits came from my school's dissection room. I'd told the teacher that I'd got a dog, and, as they were fresh hearts, I collected all the nasty remnants in a ziplok bag. Pity I hadn't thought of it a few weeks earlier, as my biology class had been dissecting eyes... That was when I was a kid. I still have weird ideas, but doesn't everyone? I'm not scary at all, so please don't be afraid. The 'Witnesham Strangler' was thought up in a moment of boredom. It seems weird now, but in the early 1980's, there was a real chance (more than 50%) that World War 3 could kick off. Less than 20 miles from where I'm sitting at home now, were 3 huge USAF bases, the hub of the RAF radar system, and five miles from here was the NATO secure telephone exchange. Had war happened, we would have been ash. If you had a great, warped idea then, you did it, 'cos you might not be here tomorrow... I am mortified to think I scared you: please accept my apologies. I try to be a nice guy, generally succeed, too. Everything I wrote was true - you did ask people to spill, so I did. Much love, xxxxx