Older readers will remember fondly Laurel and Hardy’s version of “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine” (1937).
[Listen here].
This, however, is the story of the trial we have undergone of the lonesome pine tree in the garden next to mine, which for a dozen years has been threatening to fall on our house. Years of asking the owner of the abandoned finca to take it down, his inertia and the lack of progress made no difference at all.
Progress? - No
Then my neighbour died suddenly three years ago. His three heirs couldn’t agree on what to do with the property. Two wanted to sell it and one did not. The one who did not, the son, was meanwhile living at his majesty’s pleasure in Alhaurin de la Torre gaol, later transferred to the high security prison in Huelva. What had he done, I wonder?
So, the Will was frozen, and the matter ended up in the hands of lawyers. Nothing to be done, despite the patrulla verde (a section of the local police responsible for environmental matters) declaring the tree to be dangerous. My hands appeared to be tied.
I tried to make a denuncia, but was told that I could not as the property and its Will were sub judice. My insurance company was not interested, as no damage had yet been caused. If the lonesome pine fell on my house and damaged it, then they would pay out! Doh!
Progress? – Yes!
Then, all of a sudden, at the end of August this year, I was informed that they would be felling the lonesome pine in the middle of September. Yay!
True enough - over the course of two mornings, the day before yesterday and yesterday, 20 and 21 September, two tree surgeons cut the pine down from the top a little at a time and cleared the branches that had fallen onto my land.
They repaired my damaged fence, I tidied up and put my garden back together, with the various plant pots in their rightful places.
A section of my garden was no longer in the shade. Maybe my vegetables will grow better from now on.
The trial of the lonesome pine was over, after more than 12 years!
© Only Joe King
Tags: Joe King, Laurel and Hardy, lonesome pine, next-door neighbour, patrulla verde, pine tree, sub judice, the trail of the lonesome pine, tree surgeon