Trees

Today I have grown taller form walking with the trees.
- Karele Wilson Bake

But what if there were no trees?

In which case, most Singaporeans would be shrivelled up.

It's bad enough about the trees in "our" field being cut down to make way for an exercise station, it's even worse raping the remaining grass to lay down a cement path leading to it. Three paths, actually, on three sides. At the narrowest width of the field, it's only three feet of grass to cross to get to the exercise/fitness thing. You'd think anyone going to use the exercise equipment would have sports shoes on and can walk across a bit of grass.

I don't know what it is with this Singaporean aversion to greenery. Recently, a Sunday Times columnist remarked that Orchard Road wasn't as bright as shopping districts in other countries and surmised that it was because there were too many trees! Cut down the trees, he wrote, and you'll be able to see the building facades, the lights will be brighter, the shopping ambience will be more vibrant. And this is a chap whom I know and is a perfectly reasonable fellow -- he once wrote a brilliant piece on why Annabel Chong should be designated as a Singapore icon.

But all is not lost. www.yawningbread.org has a lovely photo essay on Singapore's greenery -- click on Our Trees, I can't find a direct URL to that page.

I can feel myself shrivelling already. I've never considered myself a tree hugger -- despite the several pair of Birkenstocks I own :) Maybe I should now.