Funny how...

T

Turtle's fan

At the Start
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a horse's name can cause so much consternation. Today it was Alexander Beetle. Now then, being of an age that I remember the '70's, I thought hubby would too. Alas, no (despite the fact that he's a walking Guiness Book of Hit Records) so, did a straw poll amonst similar aged punters. No joy. Thought I was making up the fact that Melanie sang Alexander Beetle. Did a Google and there it is!
BTW: did not back the ubiqitous named horse today.
 
She specialised in rather quirky songs, didn't she? Alexander Beetle was about a pet beetle who lived in a matchbox (if I recall) and how upset she was when she thought he had got lost. I think the last line went something like "It's Alexander Beetle and he's coming back to me!"

We can't have been the only 2 listeners to have heard that song, surely?

Do you think it's something to do with loss of street cred (I never had any) if anyone else owns up to remembering Melanie and her odd songs?
 
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I used to keep maybugs as 'pets' when I was quite a lot younger - (cant stand them now - how times change!!) and they were always called Alexander - so I must have heard it somewhere, though with some of the weird and wonderful songs my dad used to burst into,I wouldnt put it past him to be to blame....
 
Alexander did live in a matchbox and 'the mum' accidentally threw the box away. Hence the angst and search and, yes, 'she' finds him again. Moot point though as, persumably, beetles all look the same. That's just a guess on my part though. Well done redhead and trudij. Have now gone and bought the album the tune comes from :)
 
I loved the horse's name, as I'm very fond of beetles, but I didn't realise there was a song behind it. Eee, the things you find out on here! I suppose if I say my favourite specimen's the cockchafer, there'll be far too much sniggering in the back row, but they are. Robust, with strong serrated front legs for digging, they make an impressive 'brrrrrr' as they take flight. I like to hold digging beetles in a gently closed hand and feel them prising my fingers apart. They're amazingly strong. (I know, I know, time for that nice white jacket with the long strings... )
 
Funny you mention cockshafers. Many years ago, when I lived in Hampshire, this large never seen before 'thing' battered it's way into my living room. I trapped it with a jam jar (and an upended stool also a three tailed whip) and looked it up and it was one of those critters. had large, fronded antennae if I remember? Looked terrifying but totally harmless. At least that's what I read. I'm convinced it had fangs to go with it's fronds and was not totally innocent in it's looks :)
 
They're harmless, but crash about if indoors and whirr loudly in flight, so can unnerve the novice, TF! You can often find their enormous larvae in established manure heaps - they look like Australian witchety grubs: creamy-white, with orangey heads, and often very sizeable. Probably very rich in protein, but I'll leave the taste test to the crows!

When my parents and I first went to Africa (in 1954) we didn't have any electric lighting for a couple of years, and the old paraffin lamps were a real magnet for all kinds of flying creatures. That's when I first 'met' all sorts of flying beetles, from tiny irridescent ones to really huge buggers that banged into things. I spent hours collecting them and putting them safely outside our tent/caravan/rondavel, always wanting to see where they came from and how they lived. The best fun beetles are dung beetles, I think, so carefully rolling their precious cargo away to store.
 
There are amazing bugs to be found in Africa and the Far East. Spent many a childhood day collecting them. Funny I'm still alive when i look back. Massive great centipedes that were straight out of Dr Who but, I learned in later life, are poisonous. Best of all though the massive moths and butterflys that are truely beautiful in their variety and colours.
 
I didn't know the diff between millipedes and centipedes until I got a couple, put them in a box overnight to proudly show off the next day, and found they'd fought to mutual death! They were literally in bite-size pieces, and I feel guilty to this day. I liked the brown millies, though, which tickled as you ran them over your arm. The very first once I found curled neatly into my palm, and I took it to show my mother. "Close your eyes, and open your hand," I said, gently placing the darling creature into her expectant mitt. "Open you eyes!" I chirruped, expecting a delighted smile of wonder. The poor thing flew across the kitchen floor as she screamed and backed off into the garden. Some people have no appreciation of nature, it seems.
 
Laughing at the mother's reaction :) Mine had many a fright. My mum is born and bred Dunfermline and is no wilting lily but some of the things that either got into the house or were brought in clearly had an impact. Think Ma Broon with 'that look' on her face, stood on a stool, directing Pa to get rid of......whatever. Memories
 
There was one evening when mine thought a little mouse was scuttling along the skirting boards. Now, the house we were in at that time was condemned as it was riddled with white ants (termites), which I often listed to, fascinated, as they gnawed their way through the remaining doorframes. My father went to inspect. "No, dear, it's not a mouse. It's just a spider." It was a big ginger, hairy 'hunting spider' and mother demanded its ouster. But he wouldn't go near it, either, so it had the run of the place. You've possibly seen those - huge mandibles at the front, and covered in ginger fur. Verrrrry impressive!
 
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