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Old Man WillowOld Man WillowOld Man Willow 01/01/2004 01:27 PM
On Monday we had gale force winds in Helsinki which were strong enough to knock out power lines, nearly knock HB and I to the ground, and, rather tragically, blow over a several hundred year old willow tree. I loved this tree as I remember the first time I saw it. When I visited Helsinki for the first time with Jarkko, the willow was next to the bus station and where the buses would drop off passengers. The road went around rather than through and over the old tree which I took as a sign of a civilised city that understood that 'progress' should have limits. Clearly, the Finns had read The Lorax or thought of the Ents before killing such an old tree to make way for human hustle and bustle. The Helsingin Sanomat had an archive photo from sometime in 1908 which shows the tree in its younger days. Even then it was in the center of city life. Helsinki Public Works is asking people to contribute stories they have about the tree which I think is a pretty cool idea. Judging by the number of people swarming around the stump and photographing it they should receive quite a few fond remembrances of this stately old willow tree. The city is going to leave the stump alone until Spring to give the tree the chance to sprout if it decides to fight for its life. I hope they put a fence around it soon though as people were climbing on it and taking knives to hack off a wooden memento which certainly won't do much for the tree's chances of survival. I suspect that it was partly weakened by all the contruction and blasting for the new bus station just behind it, too. :( Here's hoping that it comes back to life with the warm weather. This is a GrokNews Entry: (what is grok?)Old Man WillowGrok Headline matches for Old Man WillowWednesday's Whomping WillowWednesday's Whomping Willow 02/11/2004 12:28 PM News's in. Jack Paar walked off the tonight show on this day in 1960. Japan became the fourth space power in 1970 with the launch of its first satellite. It's Japan Foundation Day today - the anniversary of the... Willow Design closing doorsWillow Design closing doors 02/11/2004 03:59 AM Longtime Macintosh carrying case-maker Willow Design officially announced on Tuesday the company is going out of business. Willow Design President, Nigel Peck said it was a difficult decision to make, but was necessary based on the economics of offshore competition. Willow Design calling it quitsWillow Design calling it quits 02/10/2004 01:28 PM By Dennis Sellers - After five years of making cases and dust covers for Apple portables and desktops, Willow Design is closing and offering a final close-out sale on all its products... Willow Design to stay open a bit longerWillow Design to stay open a bit longer 03/06/2004 01:55 AM Last month MacCentral brought readers news about the closure of Willow Design, a manufacturer of custom carrying cases and bags for a wide variety of Mac models. Willow intros new iBook, PowerBook
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