Going, going.......

This one has got me going. Colours flying on the mast today folks and a few more words than usual.

5 years ago I knew this was going to happen. This is a group of grand old trees in the middle of a shopping centre in Bethlehem (The lesser known Bethlehem - not the famous one). Not too sure of how long but about 6 years ago this was a paddock with a wonderful group of native rimu , I think today's target is a cypress. Progress built a shopping centre. Growing population, nothing local , it was needed, all good. I thought at the time this will be a wonderful opportunity to have a small park in the middle centred on these trees (You can see more than half or them in this picture) . Can you guess how the developers saw it. Bet you can. Road one side, backs of shops squeezed as close to the buggers as we are allowed , maximise car park , are you sure there is enough car park, need more car park. It is promoted as the new local town centre. Feels like a car park with a group of uncomfortable trees in the middle to me.

Now to make it worse. I used to be the feller that climbed these trees. Worked for a company near Northampton and was a tree officer for Essex County in the 90's. So I have an idea how all this has come to be, and I can see the irreplaceable asset just hit the ground. I even worked for the firm doing this job!!*&^%$#@! Maybe the tree had a life threatening rot, from a distance it looked good, I don't know. But even if it did , 5 years ago the opportunity was there to build the surrounds in such a way that the trees were nowhere near so many potential targets, at the same time as enhancing their value and the living environment for the thousands of people that see them every day. Oh, btw more than half the shops are empty , let alone the dozens of car parks.

Instead we have this.