An observance

There is something fundamentally wrong with a universe that can provide a collective noun for hermits.

That most solitary of people, who abandon their homes and hearths to live alone in a cave, surrounded only by sheep and the wilderness - yet we have a collective noun for them. Why??

Do they secretly get together when no one's there and compare loincloths? Do they hold a Hermit Convention where they have a Who's Wattle Is It Anyway competition?

Possibly.

When exactly is this collective noun used? When was the last time you saw some hermits walking down the road together and felt the urge to say, 'Oh look, an observance of hermits?'

We have two choices - Option One - this weekend we should all go out into the forrest, look under the berries and mushrooms and gather the hermits together so we can get use of the term or Option Two - get on with our lives as per usual and just accept there is no sense in anything.

Although Option One sounds attractive we feel that, like climbing every mountain and fording every stream, whilst it may look a good idea on paper the National Rivers Authority would probably have something to say against it. As such we suggest watching Ben Fogle on Countryfile instead.