Stre-e-e-e-etch - but I can't reach

Sunday arrived and I looked at the apple trees ... so many large apples ... out of reach. Time, I thought, to get out the step ladder and a long handled snipper. Well - it's a good job that no-one could see me (at least I don't think they could) for try as I might and stretch as far as my body allowed itself to be distorted in an upwards direction ... I couldn't reach one single apple. There appears to be nothing for it but to play the waiting game which means that all of the remainder of the crop will most probably end up bruised on the floor. Once an apple is bruised it has to be cooked almost immediately or the flesh becomes discoloured and the taste is ruined! You may well have heard the expression 'one bad apple spoils the barrel' this is very true as mould will spread throughout any stored ones if just one contains a damaged skin.