"I'm Stumped"

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Professor Sir David Read, told The Times that one of the crucial findings of a recent report, was the importance of woods in river catchment areas. “Trees intercept rainfall and retain water, and one of the problems we are seeing now in the Lake District is [that] there is nothing to stop the water running off the hills,” he said. “We must look again at the contribution of forestry in the uplands and returning them in the direction they once were before we deforested them.”

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And then further on I read.......

“Eight million real ‘Christmas’ trees are sold in Britain each year and the Nordmann fir has become the favourite because of its dark green needles, which do not drop.

Growers last night warned hundreds of thousands of the most popular varieties will not be available here this year - pushing up prices in the process.

The shortage is being blamed on the poor exchange rate, which makes it less profitable for foreign producers to export to Britain.”

Well I say “Good!”

Do we really have to ship dead trees around the world just for decorative purposes. There are so many excellent artificial trees available - it isn't necessary to cut down the real thing only for it to be dumped a couple of weeks later.

If you can’t abide artificial trees then it makes more sense, rather than purchasing a cut-off stump, to simply buy a small "Christmas tree" to make a permanent feature in the garden. This could then be decorated each year. Much better than wasting millions of good trees every year for a few weeks' fun.

When I was a child we had a small one growing in the garden. This was dug up each year and placed in a large pot. In those days the Christmas period started twelve days before the ‘big day’ and finished on 2nd January, so the tree was not long indoors. Of course there was no central-heating either to dry it out. It survived many years of this until it got too big for its pot.

Plastic trees are also reasonably good and have improved vastly in recent years.

It seems such a waste to kill a tree for one day's festivities.

Don’t get too upset …..this is only me and my old fashioned views.

But..........

..... out upon the hillside,

Where the Christmas trees had stood,

All was completely barren,

But for little stumps of wood.

The little trees that flourished

All the year, were there no more,

But in a million houses,

Dropped their needles on the floor.

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Stumped?.....Yes I was stumped for sheet music,

although I did find "The Cherry Tree Carol".

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