Articles

GibbsHappy New Year, everyone.  A tragedy of epic proportions has happened recently, and I have to tell someone about it.  I discussed it with Casey, but he didn’t seem overly bothered. 

Behind the fence at the bottom of our back garden is an alleyway.  I don’t know where it comes from or where it goes to but it’s there.  The other side of the alleyway are the fences of the back gardens who’s houses sort of look onto ours but they’re set at a slight angle so you can’t see directly into the rooms.  Even if you stood on a ladder and had binoculars <red face>

Now, at the fence opposite our back gate were two sycamore trees.  They were very tall and quite wibbly-wobbly when it was windy, but it was on my to-do list that I would climb them one day.  I wasn’t sure when. It would be a spur of the moment thing and for once Casey would look up to me – literally!

Gibbs in Casey's bedBut one day this week, while I was asleep in Casey’s bed (deal with it, Casey!) Mum heard a whizzy-whirring noise outside.  She went to have a look.  There was a person in one of the trees and he’d cut down most of the branches.  The other tree had already gone. Mum asked the person on whose authority was he cutting down the trees.  The man told her it was the Council’s because there’d been a complaint from one of the houses to say the trees were blocking their light.

Mum came back inside and watched as the rest of the tree was taken down, branch by branch.  Now there is a massive space where the two trees stood.  Sycamore trees are a nuisance, it has to be said.  Every spring time they throw out their babies all over the place and Mum goes round the garden picking up all these little seedlings because if she didn’t, they’d grow into more sycamore trees.  BUT: and this is a huge BUT (and I’m not talking about Mum’s derriere!) Mum’s birdies lived in those trees; they hung out and sang their songs and told each other stories.  Mum has a robin that comes most days to eat from the feeders she’s put out.  He would sit in the branches and sing his song and tell Mum that he enjoyed his breakfast or his dinner.

Baby Squirrel at the bird feedersThere’s a baby squirrel that clambered up the branches – so quickly that he was gone from view in a few seconds.  He also comes to the feeders.  Where are they all going to go? They are homeless, now.  I mentioned all this to Casey, when I told him I was planning to climb one of the trees sometime. His response?  ‘I don’t do trees.’

And that’s the problem, people.  There are some people who care but they don’t know what to do.  And there are people that don’t care.  And little by little things are being taken away from us because people don’t do anything.  If you know of something that needs to be put right, don’t be afraid to speak up.  We may not be able to change the world, but we can change people’s attitudes little by little, and over time, that might be enough to make the world change.

Till the next time,

Gibbs – incensed and outraged that his tree-climbing days never got off the ground – literally! 

            

One Cat is Company

"One cat is company.
Two cats are a conspiracy. 
Three cats is an attempted takeover.
Four or more cats is a complete coup!"

Shona Steele (Australia)