Did it fall or was it pushed?

As I left my house one morning I noticed a football lodged high in the branches of my shrubbery. Nothing particularly unique about that - the boys next door are all footy mad. Then I noticed my lovely lilac tree lying on the lawn, broken at the base of the trunk.

It was the juxtaposition of the two that caused my eyebrows to rise. My mind's eye played a ghostly video reconstruction of events in CSI style.

Ball gets lodged in shrubbery, boy tries to gain extra height to reach said ball by climbing the lilac, only it promptly breaks under his weight, and the boy jumps clear as the tree crashes earthward..

This is pure speculation of course. It could well be that the tree came down in high winds. We had some strong winds a few days before this happened, although not between the time I last saw it standing and when I saw it felled.

Did it fall or was it pushed?

Needless to say, no young lads rang my bell to sheepishly admit they'd accidentally killed one of my trees. This is a shame since I would happily have lent them the tools to chop it to bits ready for disposal, and I'm sure they would have enjoyed lopping the branches.

I eventually undertook that task myself. Before I could summon the enthusiasm to undertake what would be several car trips to the council waste facility to dispose of the remains I was involved in a road traffic accident which wrote off my car.

The positive news is that the other party was at fault, and my insurance company had the settlement check in the post to me in under four days. Admirable Admiral.

Sadly the car was worth far more to me on the road than it was in purely monetary terms. £2450 doesn't get you much car, so I'm having to raid my perilously spartan savings in order to re-mobilise, and don't get me started on the perils of buying a used car.

Rest in peace Festa the Fiesta, and rest in pieces Lovely Lilac.

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