Requiem for a Tree

They came, they sawed, they hoisted.
Over the railings and into a waiting lorry in the Meadows went the remains of a noble old friend.

After waiting since the gales at the beginning of January, our own fallen tree (no 256 on the tree data base) was finally dispatched to the shredder, unceremoniously and inelegantly as the grabber clamped its jaws round the dissected pieces of trunk and the crane lifted them over the railings in a rather dangerous swaying movement to drop them into the lorry.

The operator of the grabber is very likely an expert at picking out soft toys from within those big glass boxes so beloved of cheap cafes and games rooms.

Our patch of grass in front of the house now looks rather bare without the fallen branches seemingly planted in the earth where they fell.
Apart from large divots and holes it would seem that there had never been anything there at all.

I will miss watching passing life through its branches, as if behind a screen.
The tents of the "Regime Change" illegally encamped in the middle of the Meadows, but seemingly immovable, will be more visible.

Here's the $65 question- why, when there are hardly any people present in these tents, can they not just be removed by the police. There are no placards up, and to all intents and purposes, it is just a collection of tents set up in a space that certainly does not ordinarily allow tents. Sometimes you have to wonder...