Favourite Tree

On Monday I was stopped in my tracks by the traffic lights going out of town. Although I was keen to get to work it was fortuitous. In the first light of the morning I was able to admire a tree dressed in its autumn finery, a spectacular start to the day.

I love trees. Who doesn’t? Come to think of it I’ve never come across a tree hater. They’re the cuddly guys of the plant world, always ready for a hug. This is my favourite, bowed by the wind but not defeated by it. It lives in the hinterland of the South Hams on one of a maze of lanes off the road from Totnes to Kingsbridge that between the sea and the Kingsbridge estuary. I used it often during the sixteen years that I worked in those parts. It was meant to be a shortcut but invariably I’d get lost. My internal compass is truly shagged.

I’d wanted to take a picture for ages but, to do so meant blocking the road. Happily one day I got stuck in exactly the right stop. Two trucks were having a stand off. Another time when being stopped in my tracks when I was in a rush to get somewhere worked out rather well!