I’m crabby…

Never, who me? A crabby old man? Rushes to Google- “: easily irritated : peevish and irritable : grouchy. a crabby recluse. He gets crabby if he doesn’t have his morning coffee. She was in a crabby mood and got a certain amount of satisfaction out of pushing her sister’s buttons.”

Aside from the fact that the author of that particular definition clearly had sibling issues around being swapped the best stamps from the Stanley Stamps Gibbon Catalogue for the worst by his/her/their own beloved relationship, I wonder what the derivation of the word is?

It’s a wet morning as storm Babet (shouldn’t it be spelt Babette?) tail ends it around here, so I’m catching up on those things wot I ought to have done. The thought was prompted by the Crab apple tree which is not as heavily laden as previous ones, and the fruit is marked and smaller too.

Which I suppose is true of the new orchard trees, I don’t mind as I suspect, hope, they’re settling in and root-growing , and it’s true of the two remaining descendants of the Merryhall cider orchards. One mustn’t forget also the elderly Perry Pear tree which also isn’t as abundant.

We really ought to taste the Crab Apples but they look unappetising and acidic, which I would love to think is what gives one that easily irritated feeling.