Thursday 5 October 2017

Surprise

Surprise and disbelief has been experienced on Blacka before. Significantly in respect of those managing the site choosing to call it a nature reserve while bringing in farm animals which dedicate their lives to destroying nature; then adding to our incredulity by themselves cutting down native trees.

But this one was new.


One of the charms of autumn is the chance it gives us to walk on carpets of leaves decorated in innumerable patterns and shades according to which tree species are found nearby. In fact I've been known to take photographs of the ground and hang enlarged images around the house.


Yesterday morning I came across a first, for me. I could hear a mechanical noise ahead but assumed it might have something to do with the repair going on of another section of wall recently knocked down by a car. But no, turning a corner I saw this.


A leaf blower on a nature reserve!

I sometimes wonder if I've been a bit too critical of the managers responsible for Sheffield's green spaces. Obviously not.

Never having understood why people buy leaf blowers I decided to google them. For three pages all I got were sites encouraging me to buy one. Then from the fourth page on and gradually accelerating came those people similar to me who were astonished that such things even existed. Some indeed claimed they were driven crazy by not just the noise they made but by their own inability to come to terms with a world in which a large number of people thought they had to have one.

But on a nature reserve!


How many leaf blowers would be needed in the New Forest here?
And I'm not sure the  BBC has got the seasons right!

 



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