Notice how narrow the base area is ... barely enough for the trunks, let alone the roots.
9 days after last Wednesday's deluge that was supposed to happen "once in 50 years" (according to the Minister in charge), this morning saw the heavy rain and strong winds knocking down a tree and blocked the only road in and out of my residential estate.
Had to give up using the car and brave the rain together as a family to walk out the other way on foot. While Snowylady and Snowylass took the bus, I had to catch a taxi to send Snowylad to his kindergarten which was not near any bus-stop ... not an easy task on any wet morning.
And it is for that reason that I found myself on a Chrysler luxury cab with starting fare of S$5.00.
Returning home (I called the office earlier), I took some photos of the "evidence" to explain my lateness today.
I love trees. Given a choice, I will still live in an area with trees and the risk of falling trees rather than a treeless environment. Just hope the trees will be cared for properly.
Oh Snowy, I love and respect trees so much. And I don't like to see them on the ground. I remember how majestuous were the trees in Singapore, so green and so wide !
ReplyDeleteHi Liu,
ReplyDeleteSome Singaporeans don't like trees, especially those along the main shopping street Orchard Road, they thought the trees obstruct views of the malls.
Twice, the newspaper Straits Times published letters from the public asking for the trees to be cut down or trimmed to provide better views of the buildings.
I couldn't stand it the second time round and wrote a rebuttal, reminding them that Orchard Road is the only prime shopping district that enjoy shady walkways provided by the canopies, without which the street would be a furnace in tropical Singapore. The shade is the only thing that attracts more people to Orchard Road than any other shopping areas.
BTW, there was a spate of falling trees yesterday island wide due to strong winds. But it is also my view that many trees are not provided enough space to grow deep roots, as you can see from the narrow area from my photos.
ReplyDeleteYes Snowy. Pine trees also often fall down when there are some windstorms, especially along our coasts. Not only their roots are not deep but the ground is also poor, with sand.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the ground in Singapore is also sandy ?
Haha, well done Snowy ! Here, in my town, there are a lot of street works because of a new transportation planned to be ready in 2011 : tramway. I'm often afraid about our large trees along the streets, but it seems that they will be saved and well protected during the works...
ReplyDeleteI rather look at trees than another silly mall any day. More trees less concrete I say.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, completely agree about trees being spaced to close to each other.
Another concern is some overzealous pruning of trees at open carparks leaving some of the old dames looking bald and amputated. Where is the shade they are suppose to provide for the cars???
Now I know why they do this, the Lord forbid some branch should fall off due to natural reasons and hit a parked car. I mean, just imagine the calamity of that.
In the relentless kiasi-ism and kiasu-ism here I think we losing sight of what things are for and what are the really important things.