Thought you were up "there in Canada" but see your location is London.
Spoke before my morning Tea er coffee that is.  ;)

Hope that didn't come with pigeon droppings?

No, we're SE London, where figs can and do ripen to the surprise of many.

No no pigeon dropping we do not have them here but in Chicago they are everywhere.
Course i have had Geese fly by overhead when out on patio hit me on shoulder - e -u .

1 goose = 1,000 pigeons, so consider yourself blessed.

EDIT - 

Costas,

Since I can see you are a learned person (grammar police indeed!), I will point out three things: 

1. Our friends in Canada may not benefit from the Gulf Stream (at least most of them do not), but their weather does benefit from the heat sink effect of the Great Lakes of North America.  Toronto, Ontario has a considerably more balmy climate than does my area, despite Toronto being higher in latitude.  
2. I believe the Gulf Stream is primarily a warm water current, which warms the prevailing westerly winds (air currents) primarily by convection, but is not itself a warm air current.  This phenomenon continues even as the Gulf Stream becomes the North Atlantic Drift.
3. The Gulf Stream is not a U.S. export.  Surely we in the U.S. cannot lay claim to owning the Gulf of Mexico, nor any ocean current that flows from it in a northeasterly direction across the Atlantic Ocean!  While the Gulf of Mexico may, in some sense, "belong" to North America, we in the U.S. are not so nationalistic as to consider the Gulf Stream a U.S. export!  Mexico (or Mexicans) and the people of the Caribbean could equally well lay claim, perhaps even more than we of the U.S.  

p.s.  The weather of the Maritime provinces of Canada is certainly affected by the Gulf Stream.  Whether or not this is deemed a benefit may, however, be subject to interpretation.  :-)

Hey Mike - Thx for the lodown, but plse note:

1. Grammar Police - An honorary title conferred on me (I hope in jest?!?) by Gina after I had the temerity to correct Pete Chan on his tenses. See http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/o-t-pomegranite-fruit-wanted-6584729?pid=1280078476#post1280078476 for the incident in question. I thought I should accept the appellation in good humor and exercise my newly acquired dictatorial powers by pouncing on the more egregious assaults on my grammatical sensibilities.

2. Learned Person - Hmm, debatable. I would say my general knowledge is perhaps only slightly above average, with a bent towards the scientific disciplines.

3. Great Lakes, etc. - Yes, I'm well aware of the physical properties of large bodies of water, and their ability to conserve heat energy more efficiently and for longer periods than an equivalent area of land mass. But thx for reminding me anyway.

4. Gulf Stream - Also aware that this is an ocean current. It's effect, as you correctly point out, is to warm up the prevailing winds that traverse the UK, so the result is the same.

5. As a US Export - Really? You mean to tell me that J Edgar Hoover didn't install a gargantuan radiator in the Gulf basin so we could enjoy mild winters over here? Damn. Laboring again under a misapprehension for all those years. But you're just ribbing me, right?

6. Mexico etc - What, Mexico not part of the US??? What about Indonesia, Iran, Cuba, Vietnam, Greece, Cambodia, Chile, Cyprus (my mother country),  Guatemala, Granada, Libya, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc etc. ??? Do you seriously mean to tell me that they are not also part of the US??? Coz if indeed you are right, would you mind very much telling your govt on all our behalf? Especially that war criminal currently occupying the highest office in your land.

I could continue in similar vein for quite some time, but in the interests of transatlantic peace, harmony, and goodwill, I'll spare you (and any other members who suffer the misfortune to stumble on this post) any more sarcasm. Notwithstanding which, may I reciprocate by also wishing you the best, regardless of what is done in your name.

Costas,   :-)

Mike

Glad to see that you got it that time. If I over-simplify, generalize, or use hyperbole for effect, it's only in the interests of brevity and light-heartedness, and not coz I'm unaware of the more complicated background. That brevity was necessarily sacrificed above in order to 'put you in the picture'.  

more than likely the figs won't ripe from here one. remove anything that has no chance what so ever. first frost might burn the leaves, they will drop anyway, so don't worry about them. check and see if the terminal buds are damanged. even if they are, don't worry too much, come spring, new buds will push out.

really nothing too much to be concerned with. however, do not expose the trees to prolonged sub-freezing temp without protection. i heard some are ok with that too..

my trees got hit by first frost and last frost.. few times. they all came out ok.

Grammar Police: Alan M, there are two forms of punctuation taught in schools: Open and Closed punctuation.  Open punctuation is what is normally taught in US schools.  If you are past your 60's or learned English abroad, most likely you were taught closed punctuation. Closed punctuation improves comprehension when you have one or more clauses in a sentence.  Unfortunately, we have lost the ability to read and write more complex sentences in English and students today no longer have much of a vocabulary either.  Its a shame because English is such a rich language.  At the rate we are going, 2 generations from now English may consist of a bunch of acronyms strung together and we will be left scratching our heads as to the meaning of these sentences. :-)

language has few functions. but mainly to communicate clearly what one wants to relay to another. for example, a good punch to someone's face will say "i don't like you very much, and i'm enjoying current activity which involves smashing your face in". as someone who came to america some 30 yrs ago, english language has to be one of most complex and hard to learn language. it's not written like it's spoken, and it's has some rather strange things in it.. like articles. who needs articles? but as more i spent speaking and using this language, it does grow on me.

much prefer simpler language such as korean, spanish, italian.. where things are written phonically. love to hear french spoken by young ladies, but who has time to learn that tongue twisting language? chinese? i don't have time to memorize thousands of characters that i can't even start to remember what they look like, and 6 different levels of intonation?

give me a good pint of english ale, and a plate of fig and i'll be happy just sitting in my recliner in silence.

Marianna: Congrats on penning a near-faultless paragraph, and proving once again that at least some of you still have excellent language skills.

Michael: Your contribution above was no mean feat either, even if I did feel that you were indulging in a serious leg-pulling exercise.

Pete: Thx for bringing us back to topic.

First frost here in the city was two nights ago, the front yard with lots of stone did not get hit, and I picked a ripe fig this morning. Hoping for a few more. The lake really helps prolong the season in the fall, but slows things in the spring.

J

I think you'll find that my references to 'ribbing' and 'serious leg-pulling exercise' are fairly knowing as far as your motives are concerned.

As for dishing it to the disher, I'm not aware that you have yet succeeded in taking me to task on any points of grammar, syntax, usage, spelling, etc., which I would have thought were more germane to the subject under discussion. Your response to my post (which btw was also in jest, just in case you've lost sight of that) amounted to little more than a reductio ad absurdum of admitted generalizations and hyperbole, which even the Grammar Police are entitled to use.

But for the record, and the avoidance of doubt, let me remind you that as an honorary member of the GP, I'm not inflammable. I also make mistakes. The only difference between me and your average Joe Bloggs is that I make fewer of them.

This is Costas Cleater, reporting from SE London. 

Frost has definitely hit us.  Unfortunately because of the late cold spring and nearly double the amount of rainfall this summer, I am caught with well over 100 figs left on one of my Brunswick/Magnolia.  Guess I will be out with the snips in the next couple of days.

I had a tree that got hit with a hard freeze one year. The branches above ground were toast. The tree came back the next year stronger then ever. It was almost like it made it stronger. No worries.

Marianna - We must be well North of your latitudes here in London, yet we are still weeks away from our first frosts. Somewhat academic tho, coz it's still not warm enough to ripen any more figs. Only my Italian Purple has yielded ripe figs into December in the past, but I just don't see it happening this year. I'm hoping it will surprise me again.

@ fig_it_about_it

1st grade. Not looking for a fight. Grow up.

I'll grow up if you acquire a sense of humor.

Oh, hahaha. How's that?

Figs are fun... Figs are fun.... I feel much better now. That's like a mantra for me.

Glad to see you found it. By way of reciprocity, I've suddenly aged 50 years. I'm now mature enough to call time on this exchange.