Quiet day

Ever since Sheffield Council's ill-fated policy of outsourcing street tree care to a private company (Amey plc), I've been considering ways to capture the beauty of Sheffield's many trees.  Cutting a long story short about that outsourcing policy...  intense local campaigns eventually forced the council to make a u-turn and to abandon a policy that had seen many healthy trees destroyed in the name of cost-cutting - no costly maintenance requirements if you just get rid of the tree :-( ...  Many more were placed on the list for destruction.   It took campaigners six years to achieve that policy change. The local Labour Party leadership had to learn some painful lessons in the process. 

This now seems a small issue, in the context of the horror that we are witnessing in Ukraine. Nevertheless, the protection of local street trees did come to stand for a commitment to environmental sustainability; not such a small issue, even though it is inevitably being overshadowed at the moment.

Anyway, this morning I had a bit of spare time and went out to experiment with a few more shots. What I often find interesting is the way in which some buildings can form a backdrop or a frame for the trees; the trees become the subject, rather than fading into the background.  Or sometimes there's an interesting interaction between the flowing shapes of a tree and the more block-like or linear shapes of the buildings.   Winter and early spring are good moments for looking at this. There's a second one in the extra. Neither of them quite captures what I'm after, yet, but they're works in progress.

Catching up on yesterday's thoughts about Ukraine and refugees.... Jack's conclusion, after some thought, was that he would advise any Ukrainian refugees to go to Germany rather than trying to come to the UK (unless, of course, they have friends or relatives here).  He is appalled by the familiar Tory combination of eye-catching statements and a total lack of underpinning detail or resources.  Having said that, there are established charities that have experience in connecting refugees and asylum seekers with potential hosts, and going via one of these would offer some forms of support and insight. Here's one:

https://www.refugeesathome.org/

I don't feel I can finish this week's entries without writing the name 'Mariupol'.  I hope there will be war crimes investigations; I hope there will be a reckoning.