Russell Kirkpatrick's Journal
Concerto for Chainsaw and Chipper
29-Sep-2006
Dorinda and I settled down in our garden seat for a nice lunch, when abruptly the roar of two chainsaws and crunching of a large woodchipper put paid to that.
Turns out the neighbours are taking out two of their half-dozen 150-foot pines. Good, I say. Earier this year I was startled out of my wits by a sound like someone dumping a lorryload of shingle on our deck - it was one of the pines crashing down across their section. The enormous old tree fell is full length and also the ten metres down the cliff it was perched on. Took out half a dozen full-grown native trees in its path.
These neighbours had just moved in. So we all got to know them; the entire street turned up over the next few minutes as the giant tree settled across my neighbour's section. And, in one of those ironies that make life almost as interesting as fiction, it turns out that Mr. Neighbour heads the City Council's Arboreal unit.
So today's concerto for chainsaw and chipper is preventative, apparently. Good, I say again, even though it ruined our tranquil lunch. I wouldn't want another of those giants coming down. We worked it out: at least one of them would take the office corner of our house out if it fell in our direction. And if I was inside ... no more blogs from Russell.
If you're having trouble with the blogging thing then I recommend you map it. The bigger the map, the more blog entries it includes.
I think this is the point wehre I cower in a corner beacuse any falling tree might be sent my way :).