Talking Point with Vicky Turrell: 'Is it simply being lazy or another reason?'
‘This product is currently out of stock.’ I get this message from time to time when I am shopping for groceries on-line. It is followed by another message, ‘You could substitute with…’ It is usually no bother but today there were eleven items substituted on my delivery. It happened last week too.
“Do you know why?” I asked the person delivering. “No, I have not thought about it, but funnily enough the last person had seven substitutions, it is very unusual.” Why is this happening? I imagine it is transport difficulties in these troubled times. I accepted all the substitutions because you just never know.
And I do not know why my guests’ children leave empty packets in the cupboard. They have been staying over and I found an empty lolly box in the freezer and two empty chocolate boxes in the cupboard. My friend was also complaining, “I am trying to train them to get rid of the empty boxes, but they still leave them,” she moaned. Is it simply being lazy or another reason? Maybe they want to leave the cupboard tidy and not leave any gaps.
There will be gaps in our town if the pavement trees are removed. These beautiful trees are to be felled. You can see why, it is because the roots are causing the pavement slabs to lift. It is called root heave. An uneven pavement can be dangerous for pedestrians like me, but it seems such a shame to remove mature trees. In our new garden we are longing for our trees to mature but they are a long way from that. We are anxiously waiting for their first buds to break this spring. I miss the woodpecker hiding behind a trunk, I miss the mousey treecreeper spiralling up looking for insects under the bark flakes. And then there was the loving mistletoe surreptitiously sponging nutrients from the tree. It takes a lifetime to get all those.
In the meantime, I am borrowing the sight of old trees from my neighbour’s garden over the road. He seems to be a very good gardener who knows what he is doing. I can see him out there working all hours and his trees drip with fruit and his hoed rows fill with green vegetables.
My friend who works all hours and brings up two children was telling me that she just does not have time for the garden. But she wants flowers, so she has decided to fill plant pots with bright blooming plants from the garden centre.
“They will take a lot of watering,” I said.
“Oh, my dad is retired so he will do that,” came the reply. Being ‘mature’ has mixed blessings.