We're at that time of year when the old Christmas trees have been jettisoned, put out with the trash or in many cases simply piled onto the curb.
They turn up in a lot of strange places here in London, and sometimes they tend to linger for weeks, looking melancholy.
Olga found a whole bunch of them at West End Green yesterday morning. Whether this is an authorized recycling location, I'm not sure -- there is no enclosure like there is at Fortune Green just up the road. And why do people wrap their old trees in plastic and tape? That seems problematic for the recyclers.
We had a great day here yesterday. I got quite a bit done around the house and then took Olga on a long, muddy walk to Hampstead Heath Extension. She had a blast chasing squirrels, as usual. I'm always amazed at how much energy that dog has.
There is a lot to be said for artificial Xmas trees that can be used year after year. I am sure that when people buy the real trees they do not contemplate how they will dispose of them after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteTossed out Christmas trees ARE melancholy. I sort of hate that.
ReplyDeletedon't kids build christmas tree forts anymore? of course where I grew up everybody had at least an acre, most people more and it was wooded so nobody minded another pile of brush.
ReplyDeleteSeems so disrespectful, that whole tree thing, Chopping them down to artificially bedeck them for one night when a fictitious character breaks in to leave gifts rather than loot...just to perpetuate a myth, This year and last I found boughs blown down in the crazy wind storm we had. The fictitious character came anyway. The house smelled of spruce and cedar anyway, and there were lights on my fig tree and pony tail plant. Not sure what the deal is with artificial trees either, They are just gross wire and plastic. Of course I live in a forest so...might have a different perspective. In the desert we used tumble weeds and on the beach we used driftwood, but all of that was already dead. Christmas trees are very sad. Olga doesn't care, she is the least judgemental of all happy creatures.
ReplyDeleteWe wrap our tree in an old sheet so as to contain the fall of leaves everywhere as we drag the poor played out thing through our hallway, into our elevator, through the basement and down to the recycling location at the end of our block. These lives surrounded by concrete and brick are such a different world than the forest. We do release the tree from the sheet once we get there and bring it back home to be laundered for next year.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest what Angella confirmed - the plastic would help contain the needle drop on the way out! When we take ours out, it's only a few feet to the door and gone, but I'm still finding those needles six months later.
ReplyDeleteThat final photo could have been taken in the capital city of our tiny (at one time) British province (Halifax, Nova Scotia). Spooky, really!