Anyone who follows along here will know the importance I attach to trees: they create shade, help clean up urban pollution, support a whole raft of important species from aphids to squirrels and owls, provide us with fruit and nuts, as well as giving many of us a great deal of pleasure. Urban trees are especially important as there are many studies showing that a green environment is important for life enhancement.
So I’m pleased to see the announcement of the first ever Urban Tree Festival in London.
The event, which runs over the weekend of 18-20 May, is promising a series of urban tree-related events across London including tree identification, street tree walks, and a close look at London’s Mulberry heritage.
Most of the events are ticketed (via Eventbrite); links are on the Urban Tree Festival events page.
Just for a bit of time-wasting amusement here’s a twenty question meme for the end of a bank holiday weekend.
Name a food that you can’t stand but which most people seem to love. Butternut squash.
Name a food beginning with each of your initials. Kale. Custard. Marmite.
Who is the most famous person you’ve met? Author Ian Rankin.
What was the last thing you read? This screen.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Get rid of the depression because pretty much everything else would follow from that.
What vegetable do you most hate? Sweet potato.
What superpower would you most like to have? Omnipotence – with that you can do anything else.
What would you love to be an expert in? Doing nothing.
If you could make any discovery, what would it be? The secret of immortality. Let’s face it, none of us really wants to die.
What would you like to have named after you? A dung beetle would probably be most appropriate. Or a wasp. Yes, I’ll settle for an annoying wasp.
If you could meet any figure from the past or the future, who would you meet? Elizabethan composer William Byrd.
What was the last thing you put in your mouth? Earl Grey tea.
Are you a good influence? I very much doubt it; indeed I might be worried if I were.
Does pineapple belong on pizza? Definitely not; neither does peach, unless you’re making a specifically fruit pizza. (Must sometime write up my method for fruit pizza.)
Something that’s worrying you at the moment. Diabetes.
One skill you don’t have but wish you did. The ability to magically attract money. Well, who wouldn’t!?
Tell me one unpopular, but entirely logical and far-sighted opinion you hold. The private car (van, etc.) should be banned. Yes, it would be tricky, but it could be done and it needen’t be as horrendous as you might imagine. (I must write an essay on this sometime.)
Do you ever write in pencil any more? Yes, actually quite a bit of the time: old programmers always write in pencil.
Do you wear rings? Yes. I’m currently wearing three: wedding ring, silver wedding anniversary ring, and a copper ring. Oh and my original (very worn) wedding ring on a chain round my neck.
Tell us three things you did today? Tried (and failed) to get a very old laptop working. Started reorganising the patio. Made a chicken salad.
Nobody is tagged, but join in if you want – just leave a comment here with a link to your answers so we can all enjoy them.
If you have landed here it appears that the migration from our old site has been a success. Thank you for your patience during the transition.
So what has changed?
The driver for the change was to make the Zen Mischief Weblog part of this front page.
That means the look and feel is slightly different, although the blog navigation is still in the right-hand column.
The static pages still exist and are now linked from the left-hand column.
The short site description and the current quote now appear at the top of the left-hand column.
A few of the old static pages have been sunset; the rest have been revised; and there is some new content.
If you trawl back through all the old blog posts then you’re likely to find some missing images; I’ll correct these as and when the opportunity arises.
Oh, and you may need to update your bookmarks/favourites.
And that’s about it. Everything else should be much the same, and hopefully normal service can resume.
Eccentric looks at life through the thoughts of a retired working thinker
