I came home one day to find that Dad had cut down the cabbage tree, and the silver fern had been lopped. Of course mum must have put him up to it as she'd been complaining for a while. It's likely that they will both grow back in a determined effort to survive though.
The cabbage tree had chosen to root itself next to the house and was brushing up against the eaves, with the silver fern at it's feet, which was threatening to extend over the driveway. I was hoping it would grow taller than the car and not get in the way but tree ferns and cabbage trees have a way of ignoring straight lines as they are not block shaped or minecraft creations. Have you ever played minecraft? Your eyes will go square, and there is foliage in it apparently but that is all square and blocks as well. So yes to buxus, no to anything that grows that you cannot clip to shape.
Now some Maori might be appalled that our native plants are shunned in favour of English exports. But I can't do anything about it. As I've said before, this is suburbia and we have been sectioned. It doesn't matter, this 636 sq metre plot is all we have.
By the law of diminishing returns though, and the exponential growth of human reproduction, and taking into account of natural attrition its likely that Auckland eventually will collapse under its own weight because each section is going to be carved up into smaller and smaller plots if the Council has their way until we are all living in skyscrapers aka Hong Kong 2. I can just picture it now. The rivers and creeks will be paved over like Queen Street and shops all put on them.
Apparently we can never have enough shops and cafes. Years ago, I over heard that the Council were planning to make Auckland into a 'World Class City' or the 'World's most Livable City' which naturally meant the entire world was going to come here and live which I didn't think was feasible. So now when you walk along you can see trees chopped down and houses going up but they are not really houses, more like boxes and my most frustrating thing is to see them being built with roofs that have NO EAVES. Now with canopy cover completely gone, and no tree roots to suck up water, and all the 'rain events' we are having, guess what?
In about 5 years time those new buildings will all have to be pulled down because the rain will be getting in the walls and they will be leaky and mouldy and damp, they don't even have any window sills or flashings, and there is no green belt or rain garden to absorb the water and the excess storm water is all going to rush like a torrent into the harbour and destroy our marine environment - and we won' be able to swim or go fishing.
Am I being a Cassandra about this and everyone shrugging and going well she's all doom and gloom. Think of all the world class shops and tourists we can attract when we host all the World Cups. Because we are a World City now. Well I'm sorry I just don't care what the world thinks this will be the ruin of Auckland. Yes Rome wasn't built in a day but they don't have rain like we do in Auckland.
A teacher once lent me A History of Rome because I was interested in the rise and fall of a civilisation. Well I think A History of Auckland would tell a much more dramatic tale of hubris.
