The Tree

Why? Because it tells something of my character, even as a 15-year-old boy. Dad had permission to fell a huge tree to make fence posts. “Jack, cut the scarf in the tree.” This cut in the side in which direction you want it to fall. With my axe, I marked about an 80cm length on the proposed cut. It was surprisingly soft, and my axe soon disappeared into the tree as I swung as hard as I could. Dad appeared after fixing the crosscut saw and said I had cut the wrong side. He cut a smaller and lower scarf on the opposite side and put the crosscut saw into my cut which was deep inside the tree. Boom- crack! The tree dropped down onto the saw. “Save the saw” said dad as he ran to the side of the expected fall, but in danger of branches.

With my eyes fixed firmly on the trunk, which was slowly dropping towards me, a 15-year-old boy who was scrambling backwards. So, what does this tell you about a 90-year-old stroke person?

I walked around that tree 4 or 5 times before deciding where to cut. Was I 15 or 17? Memory. So how did I escape? The important thing is to walk around the problem.

Enough, Angus