Halteres..

A few years ago, when I was a child, the hobby that everyone shared was collecting Brook Bond tea cards. Luckily, my neighbour, mrs Jones, drank gallons of it, and every monday night, I would go round and have a piece of the cake that she had baked for me. It would be Chocolate, with a rich cream filling, and iced, and coated with flakes of chocolate scraped of a bar. Or Coffee cake, or Cherry, and all were delicious. I'd have a drink of fizzy corona, that came in returnable bottles, the ones with the dimples around the neck.

And the highlight of the hour, she'd let me open all her new tea packets, carefully, I'd break the seal without tearing the cardboard outer, and with a knife, gently go down the inside to extract the card. I may have to open the top, and shake the tea to one side of the packet, or rarely gently ease the side of the packet open. All packs were resealed to keep the tea fresh. I'd get eight or ten cards from this..

And the collections, things to wonder at, British Butterflies, The Space Race, Historic Cars, or Wild Flowers. And one particular set, Wonders of Nature prompted today's picture. Still memorable after 45 or so years..

The Daddy long legs, or Crane fly, has halteres, the drumstick like appendages under it's wings. These act as a counterbalance, beating in the opposite direction when the wings flap. Natures own governor..

Thank you mrs Jones..
music