Writer's Gramps

  As I understand it, thought processes and decision making in the human brain are based on complex chemical reactions. I have always been taught that this is what separates us from other living things, but it seems animals can learn and retain what they have learned. In other words, the lessons are coded and stored in their brains. What about plants? Having given this a good deal of thought, not research and analysis, just ordinary musing, has made   me wonder if trees, for example have some sort of slow basic chemical memory that allows them to modify their behaviour. One assumes that plats have some sort of common ancestry in a single cell unit but evolved into the varieties we have today by a process similar to the way a virus mutates, only taking centuries, even millennia, instead of weeks. How did the fir tree decide it was easier to survive and reproduce in climates with short summers by making its leaves narrow and needle like? How did trees decide to cast their leav...

I ‘ve been asked where stories come from and I give several logical replies; they come from history, Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of a Grandfather is full of story lines and even plots; thsy come from overheard conversations; they come from memories but   … I have a great deal of respect and even fondness for the leader of our local writers’ group but the latest idea, a follow on from the childrens’ story exercise to that of a rhyming one was a genre too far. Turning it over as I sat looking out through my window at the trees, I decided not to take part and put it out of my mind. I reached for my note pad and wrote - A leprechaun, Called Sean All dressed up in a fine suit of green, As smart as has ever been seen *** He heard a low flying swallow say   You’re looking your smartest today *** He’d just started to jog When he noticed a dog *** My name is the thing I’ve forgot It’s might be Sam or just Spot It could be Ron or maybe it’s Rover I’ve consider...