Post Post

I still think that one of the best science fiction books ever written was "The Day of the Triffids". If you have read it you will recall that the world was threatened by the sudden appearance of a new form of plant life - the triffid - which gained an evolutionary advantage over mankind following a catastrophic natural disaster (in the case of the John Wyndham story, widespread blindness). I know that I have already vowed to restrict my comments about the natural disaster plaguing many parts of the country (the floods), but in view of the potential gravity of the events I am about to describe, I feel I must speak out.

Several weeks ago I began to notice a new kind of entity appear on the grass verges around my part of West Yorkshire. They seemed to appear overnight and for no apparent reason. They are sturdy things, well rooted into the earth and without any visible means of reproduction (see illustration). As far as I am aware, there are no recorded cases where one of these beings has attacked a human being, although they do seem capable of delivering a nasty graze to the skin. Equally, I have noticed that, when walking our dog Amy, she keeps well away from them. The distinctive red marking near the top of the "stem" seems universal and is probably some form of display mechanism used in courtship rituals.

Whilst the appearance of the "Postids" (for thus I have christened them) in itself may not be alarming, I did notice for the first time the other evening evidence that they had begun to move. By carefully concealing myself in a neighbours garden I managed to get a photograph of one of the Postids apparently crawling along the ground to take up a new position.

In view of the unseasonable weather we have been having and the likely ability of these Postids to survive prolonged periods of submersion, I wonder whether we should be worried?