I just came back from a short walk through "my wonderful provincial town", bathed in sun and temperatures worthy of the beginning of summer. I left empty-handed and returned with the pockets full. Full of pictures, frustration and disappointment, and deeply impressed by the barbaric and stupid way this country is run by oligarchs.
My walking track is pretty much the same every day, being a small town and not having too many options, I can’t improvise too much. On my way to the park near the city center, I am always passing by two beautiful willows, grown on the shore of the Danube, right next to the taxi rank. Today I discovered with amazement that one of them was cut down almost completely, while the other, the one you can see in the first picture, went through a procedure of amputation of her majestic crown.
Sad. These willows are quite rare in our city, which in my opinion gave a certain charm to this small citadel, which wants to become a real tourist city... someday. The fate of one of them was unfortunately sealed, while the other will probably regenerate in time ...
Why the authorities ordered these willows to be amputated, I have no idea. It is possible that their roots interfere with the power cables, which pass underground, or pose a danger to the roof of the tourist information building, built near them. However, the willows took their place there first but, unfortunately they have no voice to be heard and no weapons to protest.
In the nearby park we have a lot of trees and I can't say that the air in the city is polluted, and yet I think that these two willows could have been spared. Those who deforest entire forests in a few years, in Romania, do not have a sparing soul, like the vast majority of those who manage the various localities and counties in this country. Unfortunately, we place more emphasis on beautifully colored papers, and public institutions with their expensive buildings, than on nature.
They were silently cut off, now the risk of damaging power cords or the roof of a nearby building probably no longer exists, but their generous full of oxygen giving arms have been abandoned at the crime scene, with their silent killers probably rushing to prepare the grill.
The problem with such actions of cleaning up the city, and cutting down trees in general in this country, is that no one replants what they cut down. Those who run such actions and businesses owners live with the impression that the flora in Romania is a bottomless bag, but they will soon be convinced that it is not true. Regrets may be late though.
The same happens with the fish in the accumulation lake near town, where it has been fished both industrially and as a sport, for decades, but there have never been actions to repopulate the lake with certain species of fish, which seems to record decreases from year to year, or cleaning the harmful ones out of the good ones. There is no middle ground to do that... and that's probably why they're not motivated to act.
Anyway, hope you had a great Saturday and that this amputated tree will one day heal itself...
Thanks for attention,
Adrian