Living through history, a tale to tell.

I had an hour to kill last week, it was midday I was home for lunch and I turned on the television and had a look at the programmes that had been on earlier in the week in the hope of finding something interesting to fill my hour.

I wasn't too hopeful but when I saw a programme called "The Oak, natures greatest survivor," I thought "sounds interesting" I happen to love oak trees as they sort of fascinate me, probably because of the age they can live to and the size they can reach.

The basic premise was, lets take one tree and follow in through the four seasons, see what happens to it and what the tree does in terms of taking in nutrients, attempting to reproduce and generally surviving, You may be thinking "doesn't sound like gripping stuff", but it was absolutely fascinating, 

This tree was a little under 400 years old, come on that's pretty impressive isn't it ? considering that you or I may live if we are lucky (or not depending on your viewpoint), to be a quarter of that age.

To put this into a historical perspective the tree had been a mere sapling during the battles of The English Civil War, and had matured at the time of the Industrial revolution, and is still in good health, the changes that have taken place in that span of time for the human race are incredible.  

This resonated with me all the more because despite previous failed attempts I have managed to grow a baby oak from an acorn that I collected last Autumn, something I am thrilled about. Here is the young oak below -

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Now assuming I can find a place where that sapling can grow to maturity and live to be 300 or possibly even 400 years old what changes that tree may live through.

I will be long gone and so will you, and many other generations will have lived their lives, that to me is a thought that both beguiles me and scares me.

So I'm thinking I will drive this sapling up to my allotment in my petrol driven car and find a place for this baby to thrive and live on, in 300 years or maybe even sooner  people may look back and laugh at the idea of their forebears driving around in metal boxes pumping poisonous gases into the air. 

I'd love to be around to see how things are 300 or 400 years from now, but knowing I won't be able to it would be great to leave something as magnificent as a mighty Oak behind as a sort of legacy.

One day my sapling may look like the Oak tree below, this tree is not too far from my local Pub, which appropriately enough is called "The Wooden Walls of Old England".