The big gum tree at the top of the garden is dying. I've never known a gum tree to die. None of the others in the road have died. In fact they are so old they have been cut down numerous times and the regrowth has been more vigorous than the original trees. Some have three trunks growing from the initial bole. My initial thought was that someone has poisoned it. So I investigated as well as I could, examining the trunk for drill holes (felt rather like Dr G from Crime and Investigation!), but found nothing. This doesn't mean that an ecoplug hasn't been put into a root - a large wild banana plant was removed from underneath the tree a few months ago.
I have considered that it might be the neighbour, but his house is the one that I have calculated will take the direct hit when it comes down and I would have just asked the council to take it down if it were me. I then took a walk up the road to see what kind of sea view the new houses have a little way up the mountain, and saw that they were more than adequate without having to resort to desperate measures. None of this solves the actual problem, which is - when is it going to fall and will I be driving down my driveway when it does?
A friend stopped to chat as I was pondering these important matters at the foot of the tree and reminded me of an incident some years ago. A house up the road had a large Norfolk pine growing in a back corner of the garden and out of the blue, it drooped and died. Interested parties took a look and discovered three drilled holes with a distinct diesel smell. They also followed the line of sight between the tree and possible obstructions to sea views and blow me down if they didn't catch out the dominee! He eventually confessed (how appropriate) to perhaps having had something to do with it, but it says nothing for his sermons or even his vocation that he couldn't practice what he preached!
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