The City Tree.

The photo to the right is an image of a small stretch of land belonging to a portion of Tottenham Court Road, in Central London. It is a busy area of around half a mile, sandwiched between Warren Street and Goodge Street tube stations. This particular shot was taken whilst sitting upon one of a small group of benches, either side of a Starbucks and Caffe Nero. Joining me in random moments here were bums with beards, businessmen with I-phones, students, soldiers, travellers, wanderers... all forms of the human race passing by with consistent regularity; as I drunk my carefully prepared paper-cupped Latte.
 
On a wider scale, this was more than a coffee-shop cubby hole. I was sitting in the vast metropolis known as the city of London; one of the most recognizable, historical places of Earth - inhabited by over eight million souls. London is both my home town and a beautiful city. It is a place I never grow tired of; where there is always a fresh pathway or unique cultural philosophy to experience, and you feel as if you can view the entire world here within the diameters of its thirty mile radius - which I always believed I was doing...

After thirty minutes quietly pondering life by myself, as the motions of my senses internally ingrained the buildings, people, sounds, and smells of the city. I noticed a sight which - in the past half-hour, and possibly each of the other one hundred times I passed this place, never occurred to me was even there. I saw a solitary, pure aspect of Earth's immense nature... a tree. It stood tall before my eyes, the wind was blowing its leaves in a flowing synchronicity, and even though I am pretty fond of nature, in the presence of a vast array of modern ingenuity, it had became somewhat lost and forgotten; I had to pause to even notice it.

It reminded me of the single Magnolia flower I once saw, peering beyond the concrete cracks of a Toys R Us car park; once noticed, its power is overwhelming. At the same time however, is very easy to miss. This tree has been preserved by the city, and this gives me faith in human nature's respect of mother nature. But the tree stands alone, and just because it cannot talk or express itself the way in which we do, it still carries life as it grows. In many ways this tree is the polar opposite of an urban city dweller lost in the woods - naked and vulnerable to elements he doesn't really understand. But who knows, like the curious few who embrace the jungles of natural development, perhaps the tree loves the hustle and bustle of humanity; knowing he remains both constant in his protected nature and the all seeing essence of a city he has seen built by man, survived through war, and always looking to take life in new and interesting directions.

I quietly saluted the city tree, and hoped he didn't feel so alone; surrounded by a human built world which - while incredible by itself, doesn't quite breathe the way he does. I then stood, and threw my empty paper cup in the bin; I wondered if the tree had grown used to seeing his relatives treated this way...

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2 comments:

  1. Be subversive rent a concrete cutter remove a 5; wide concrete collar around the tree replace it with crushed gravel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I will hire one tomorrow Slim... very funny reply! :-)

    ReplyDelete