That’s All, Oaks

‘IT will not have escaped anyone’s notice that the red, white and blue of the Union Jack is gradually rearranging itself into 13 stripes and 51 stars as Britain metamorphoses into America.

”Say, is this the road for Watford?”

Of course, we are still only a pale imitation of the land of the free.

For example, where we had to make do with faked photos of our soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, the United States has gorged on the real thing.

And the Independent leads with another video tape to emerge from Iraq, this one showing a US Marine shooting dead an unarmed prisoner inside a mosque in Fallujah.

We too have a photogenic evangelist as our leader, albeit one with more than a passing acquaintance with the English language and the ability to retain consciousness throughout the whole tricky ordeal of eating a pretzel.

And now we have trees that are the equal of anything in New England.

Proving that climate change need not be all bad, the Guardian shows a picture of the autumnal colours in a forest near Watford.

”According to the Tree Council,” the paper says, ”some areas of southern England have seen the most spectacular leaf displays in their history in recent years as a result of global warming.”

However, what is good news for artists, photographers and travel agents could have serious implications on Britain’s rural landscape with species such as the English oak struggling to survive.

”Put simply,” says Pauline Buchanan Black, of The Tree Council, ”hotter summers are meaning that trees in some areas are not getting the water they used to get in the summer months.”

But one man’s oak is another man’s maple and the vivid autumnal displays could see an army of tourists coming to, say, the New Forest to enjoy the fall.

Or Ye Newe Forest (Est: 1087) as it will no doubt be then known…’

Posted: 16th, November 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink