Nails - Choose your own adjective.

As a young Royal Marine recruit these nails would have caused you a great deal of grief.

Each man had to carry six 6" nails which were kept gleaming and oiled. Not for crucifying enemy agents but to use when building a shelter known as a kip. The nails would have string wrapped around them and then tied to the ring holes in two rubberised poncho gas capes which had been buttoned together to form a primitive but fairly watertight pup tent - kip. Should the Platoon Weapons Instructors, or camping instructors as they were fondly known, discover a tiny spot of rust on your rifle, bayonet, magazines, nails or anything likely to exhibit rust in the damp of a Dartmoor winter, you could be hung from the nearest tree.

Nowadays young Marines refer to instructors or 'wellard' characters as being "Nails" ie hard. I wonder if I was ever "Nails?"

I used these to peg some turfs in place on our Cornish hedge. Sadly Toots and the hedgehogs have ensured that the turfs turned to a fine loam and now reside at the base of the hedge in a silt.

I shall endeavour to get Mrs Booty to polish these nails up to an adequate standard. That should keep her busy for a week or three. :-))

In other news........Flossie has been introduced to her choke chain and whistle. Initial reactions are good. She loves meeting new dogs; this morning she discovered a fox/rabbit run and disappeared into the hedge on our morning wander. Confident little baggage.