h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was awakened from a deep sleep (and a very romantic dream) this morning by the sound of chainsaws outside my window. Because of my work schedule, I usually sleep till about 9:30am. Well after cussing for about a minute I looked at my clock and it said 8:30am. Then another chainsaw was added to the roaring choir of machinery. So much for rescuing that last hour of sleep.

What were they sawing? The leaves off the palm tree outside my upstairs window. Ah, the joy of apartment complexes! I decided to get up and be usefull, so I took out the trash, and a shocking sight hit my eyes. There were entire banyan and oak tree branches lying all over the parking lot that we are surrounded by. There were green leaves everywhere on the pavement and the sound of machinery from all corners. The trees have so many stubbs sticking out now that they look like ancient Greek & Roman statues. I realize that sometimes trees have to be trimmed to keep them from growing into the sides of houses, blocking traffic and to allow sunlight to penetrate a little for things like flower beds, but these trees had just gotten to where they provided the smallest bit of shade. Well, this is the "Sunshine State (Florida)." I guess shade is contrary to state law here.

Of course, I have no say in how they do the gardening. I suppose I could try to gather signatures on a petition to just let the trees grow a little (oh, my God, we can't have that!) but knowing the type of people who live here, I would get about 2 signatures out of the entire honeycombed mass that is our neighborhood. The signatures would be those of kids, whose favourite climbing branch just got cut off.