The stalwart rocked up today, the hardy. Over sweet potatoe soup Caroline found that her letter had been responded to, and it was read out for all to hear. It asked the Elders if they remembered the war, and what stories they could relay to the Combo kids who came on Tuesdays. So we wrote a letter.
Michael: “A German plane flew so low, I could see the face of the pilot”
Esther: “There is a tea room in Horsey, with an upstairs packed full of memoribilia from World War 2. Nice cakes there too. It’s called Poppylands
But it was cold and the rain came through the parachute, so we de camped to the warmth of the static van where we heard a bit of its story: how it was towed by a land-rover (illegally) down Beccles Road, and niftily backed into the space where it resides now. We found out with the fire being called Dolly that Caroline was also called Dolly – Dolly Day dream, who is thankfully still unadulterated, still not mixed into becoming an Adult.
Once in the van we explored the concept of what party a tree would belong to.
Reform was the first to arrive. Ivy which looks attractive but clings to other trees, sometimes strangling them, and if it got too large a sail, would threaten the other trees. It needed to be kept under control. It was a survivor. It also gave unexpected late food for bees and insects, and we were not sure how this fitted into the Reform philosophy.
The Greens were a branch of an Oak – king of the wood, strong, resilient, in its own time.
The Conservatives were a dead tree, hollow, the heart wood having deserted. It has its time
The Lib Dems were a Ginko tree, the oldest and primordial tree, as the Liberals were once Whiggs.
The Labour party were an apple tree, which once gave useful fruit but had recently been infected by mistletoe and now it was a tree of rotten apples.
Our final go round was who we’d vote for
- A willow as I’m weeping
- Eucalyptus as we are up a gum tree
- Pining away
- A sweeet chestnut to coppice for the new generation
- A mountain ash as it’s the first to emerge from the tubes on the land.
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Kinda Elders in the woods 