ickle.org » snails

On rainy Irish camping holidays by the beach when I was ickle, we would hunt for the snails with the prettiest shells in the soggy grassy dunes. We'd find pale yellow and pink shelled ones and let them crawl across our hands,

squealing with disgust and delight at the sensation of their slimy meandering contractions.

It rained last night and in the damp morning I walked to work, avoiding the stepped on remains of too many poor ex-snails smeared across the footpath. Their pretty, brittle shells no defense against a careless tramping shoe.

CD