This post was first published on my other blog (Mild & Mellow Melancholy Musings) when this site was 'resting' for a while back in 2018. Give it a read and then I'll update you on 'what happened next' (as in recently). The post was originally entitled 'Now That's What I Call Regeneration...', but I've amended it for this slightly edited outing.
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Well, I said I'd do this post when I found the relevant photos, and after much searching - which has taken me months (if not years) - I've finally tracked them down. True to form, they were in completely different places, and I had to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of pics in order to find them. That's even harder than it sounds, because my photo wallets are scattered all around the house in whatever space I can fit them.
Of course, there's always the possibility that you'll think the result of my hunt wasn't worth the effort, but I'll take my chances. The above photo was snapped by me around 1986, and shows the remains of a tree that had taken a pounding. I think it was struck by lightning, and it's a shame I don't have a photo of the tree before its 'accident' as it was quite an impressive looking item. (Could be I do have a pic somewhere, but if so, I've forgotten ever taking it, never mind where it might be if I did.)
Anyway, I took the photo below sometime around the early or mid-'90s, and it shows the tree in its 'recovery stage'. It's not exactly as it was before it endured a kicking, but I thought it was a goner back then, so it was nice to see that it had survived - and thrived. There's a moral in there somewhere, eh? Let's just hope that council workies haven't chopped it down after it making such a magnificent comeback. I must take a walk along to the area and see if it's still there. I'll let you know. (Update: Yup, it's still standing.)
And now a sadder update: I walked past this tree twice on Wednesday 19th, first going somewhere, then again coming back. I even gave its trunk a friendly pat on my way home, so pleased was I to see it still standing after all this time. However, taking the same route tonight, I was gutted to see that it had been chopped down, which must've been done on Thursday or Friday as council workmen don't usually work on weekends.
I guess, going from the colour of the centre of its levelled trunk, that it must've been diseased, but it's a great shame to see it laid low after so many years. My pat of 'greeting' turned out to be more of a 'farewell', but at least I got to see it again, tall and proud, just before its end. Hopefully, it will regenerate once more to some degree, even if it's just a few sparse growths around its remains. I'd write a poem about it, but, as Joyce Kilmer wrote in 1913 - "I think that I shall never see, a poem lovely as a tree."
And yet another update: Below is a photo of the tree as it is now.
4 comments:
There were two cherry blossom trees in the grounds of my secondary school but the headmaster had them both chopped down which seemed like pure vandalism to me. If some yobs had broken in during the night and chopped the trees down it would have been condemned as outrageous behaviour with the police called in, what's this country coming to etc.
As you say, pure vandalism, CJ. I think the tree in my case might have been diseased, hence its felling, but it's still a shame to see it laid low after so long, especially as it had survived an earlier devastation.
Hi Kid,
It's always sad to see any tree cut down, each one is sadly missed and not easily replaced.
I always pat the trees at "Four Oaks" in Calderglen near the Castle Falls, whenever I take a walk along the nature trail.
Best wishes,
Big D
I pat trees regularly, BD, as well as surviving lampposts from my childhood. (Wait - who are these men in white coats, walking up my front path?) I'm always saddened when I see any gone.
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