Yesterday we walked to Queen Square again. It is a large, Georgian open space with a very Georgian obelisk at its centre. In the Summer the grass is a favourite place for local workers to have lunch as the never-ending river of traffic encircles them.
In the last few years it has been the venue for a charity boules tournament and, as everyone knows, if you call yourself a charity, nobody is allowed to point out how much money you are making for your own uncharitable business.
Once a year there is a French market here too. Over in France, a handful of entrepreneurs buy the cheapest food they can find, then come to Bath to sell it on to us at hugely inflated prices. The worst cheese, the worst cassoulet, stale bread and ultra-sweet confectionary are all off-loaded over one weekend in the Summer. I don't know what the rates for this concession are, but knowing Bath council they will be very high indeed.
When we arrived yesterday we were shocked to see that a huge and ancient Hornbeam tree had been felled, leaving a stump of about 45 inches in diameter and a dusting of sawdust over everything in the immediate vicinity.
I Googled up the details and found that the council had spent the £100,000 on painting a few benches with varnish, raking a few paths and cutting down the Hornbeam, even though there was nothing wrong with it at all.
I now have a feeling that the £100,000 included some roadworks on the other side of the fence, so I have changed this post somewhat. It still doesn't explain the reason for felling the tree though.
Apparently they cut the ribbon of the grand reopening of the little park under cover of darkness.
Indeed... how true ... and sad and worrying x
ReplyDeleteSee the adjustments above.
DeleteThat is a shame about that tree. Corruption and power often go hand in hand. I'm now going to look up hornbeam. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteAhh, ironwood.
DeleteI have adjusted the post for reasons mentioned above. I will have to look into it further - if I can be bothered.
Deleteindeed. Still sad and angry tho.
ReplyDeleteSad news for the old tree.
ReplyDeleteBath is not alone in having a French market. They come to West Wales too. Sorry about the tree.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind the onion sellers who pretended to ride an old bike from France.
DeleteVery sad about the tree. The specialty markets here are subpar and outrageously expensive here too. The latest Market gimmick is to charge 2-3X the price by stating, "It's organic."
ReplyDeleteI don't think the French farmers would tolerate Brits turning up in their towns selling typically English food, especially now.
DeleteWe had a German Market at Christmas, but I don't remember it last year.
ReplyDeleteIronwood are known to have lived up to 800 years. Indeed and old and venerable tree. If you learn the cause of it's destruction, I hope you pass it on. It's the one breed of tree I'm sure to correctly identify. Great bark.
The reason - I am told - is that it was simply in the 'wrong' place and cutting out too much light.
DeleteVery unhappy news about the old tree. Here we have a similar thing. Some acquaintances have taken an old factory and turned it into a profitable concern. There is a kayaking place which is quite a draw. A brewery. A fishing store. Now the city has determined that they want to shut this all down and build a hotel along the river. Never mind the fact that we have two big hotels in the city that never, EVER work at capacity. The service jobs that hotel will bring in will be no more than the jobs provided by the concerns already in the factory. The building will also block the river view of expensive condominiums that were sold on the basis of that beautiful river view.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about money. It stinks.
DeleteThe annoying thing is: they create irrevocable facts - the tree is gone.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a novel in Tove Jansson's (children, but not only) book about the Mumin trolls: the Dronte Edouard (a sort of dinosaur) sat sometimes on people - "then he wept bitterly and paid for their funeral."
The difference is that our trolls do not weep and want to be paid for the funeral.
DeleteThe second sentence, it seems, I have also sat on :-)
ReplyDeleteCriminal murder of a beautiful tree.
ReplyDeleteSo sad about that tree. I have a hornbeam in my small woods that I treasure.
ReplyDeleteA tree death always upsets me
ReplyDelete