We all love trees but watch out for trip hazards
Ask anyone what summer means and high on the list of replies will be “holidays”. Many people have become used to booking holidays abroad early in the year and look forward to sun, sea, new sites and foreign adventures.
With the recent track record of Brexit, Covid, airport chaos, airline delays, even cancellations, and interminable queues at some ferry ports and the channel tunnel, those taking holidays in the UK have been able to smile smugly to themselves. On top of that, plenty of sunshine and little rain may be worrying for farmers but have been a blessing for domestic tourism.
With well-founded fears of cost of living increases, days out or shorter overnight breaks are an economic alternative to the traditional week or two weeks holiday. For those with children, when schools are out, there is always the search for exciting but inexpensive entertainment, themed summer clubs.
High up on the list for those who choose to stay at home is a chance to relax, have an ice cream and simply enjoy not having to go to work. There will, of course, always be jobs to do. A time for redecorating, DIY jobs that were put off earlier in the year or tending to the garden which for some is a pleasure and for others a miserable but necessary task.
For others, especially those who work in the hospitality sector, summer can be the busiest time of the year and with fewer overseas visitors to this country, it is essential that more people take their holidays within the UK and explore all that there is on offer. Summer means hard work, long hours and little opportunity to enjoy the warm weather for those so employed.
Summer is also the time for longer days that stretch well into the evening, picnics, flowers in bloom and agricultural shows. Big ones like the Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate and the many smaller ones in villages throughout Yorkshire which are often the main event of their year.
It is also the time for trees to be in full leaf and there is something very appealing about long, straight avenues of mature trees geometrically spaced out and giving shade to road and pavements.
We are lucky to have many of these in both our cities and in the countryside. They were often planted in the nineteenth century and form towering canopies creating colour and shadows as the sun arcs through the day.
We tend to revere the avenues of Cyprus trees found in the Tuscan hills or the south of France but our avenues of oaks, sycamores or beech trees are so much bigger and less consistently shaped and as a result are all the more dramatic. They can be eerily dark during sunny days whether they’re lining suburban streets or forming the borders of paths in parks and with a little street lighting, can be enchanting at night.
But with such beauty and majesty, as is often the case, there is a danger and, for our avenues, it is the danger caused by roots bursting through the pavements and pathways. They are a terrible hazard for the elderly and the blind and dangerous for those in wheelchairs or on mobility scooters and an inconvenience for anyone pushing a pram or buggy.
Sometimes, those affected are forced to walk in the road because the roots have lifted the flag stones or tarmac surfaces and once this happens, the problems rapidly deteriorate even further. So, enjoy walking along these avenues and enjoy the vista that they create but keep an alert eye on where you tread to avoid trips and falls and visits to A&E.