January 15. Day 15. What goes up

As a child I was completely awesome at climbing up trees. Unfortunately for my father regularly called on to rescue me, I was completely crap at climbing down trees. Getting stuck was one of my special skills generally somewhere near the top of the poinciana tree out the front of our home. It was a very nice climbing tree and a particular favourite of mine despite my inability to climb down.
Perhaps I needed a harness like this one being used by Ben in the poisoned fig tree in West End this afternoon.
Ben was a member of a three-man team working on the tree today. Late last year someone who has not yet been caught drilled holes in the base of the tree and injected poison in the 60-year-old tree. Since then extensive work has been done to save it. The team on site today is hopeful that signs of new growth mean that the tree may be saved. To help it along it was being treated with silicone for additional strength and Ben was climbing to the upper reaches to take samples and check that it did not pose a danger to passing pedestrians or cars. Having climbed to the top he came straight back down again without any need to call for reinforcements to help. Not that I was offering, not now that my Dad is no longer around to talk me down.