Shedding

When a reptile sheds its skin, does it hang it up next to the lawnmower? Not if it's a snake. Given what happens to a hose pipe when it gets put in the shed, I reckon no snake would be safe to go in there.

Bad jokes, I know. But I wonder how long it will be before the word "shedding" morphs into some sort equivalent of "housing" but with more wood and a tendency to house families of robins? Words change all the time, and since so do human habits (I know some who started a business in their shed) and people need words for them they might just save time and borrow this one.

When I was a kid my parents had an asbestos shed. That's reassuring, isn't it? An entire shed made of one of earth's most poisonous naturally occurring substances. A bit like building a shed out of nuclear waste, or making a chicken coop by tying a load of foxes together in a hoop. We only got rid of it becuase while we were on holiday one of the neighbours' kids climbed on it and fell through the roof. The asbestos roof. She's still alive. So far. I'll wait another decade before I breathe a sigh of relief. With a hankie over my mouth.

Still, the shed never burned down, eh? That's a relief. Almost worth it.