Role reversal is something we should play with.
This week, in my family's eyes, I have been the evil developer laying waste to nature, spluttering a defence of: "Honest, it's for the best, you'll understand once I've finished this development..." The words sounded hollow even to my ears.
I condemned that invasive buddleja bush when we moved into our house some five years ago, and have been scheming to engineer its removal ever since. It was an epic struggle. That butterfly bush and I fought a mental battle for some time before the final confrontation. I came away with a scratched face, the bush lies beaten, its roots brutally hacked and sawed and exposed to the sun. In its place is a new raised bed where I can finally get my polytunnel out and grow some salad and veg.
But. The look in my children's eyes and the cries of .. "what about the butterflies?" echo around my head and haunt my thoughts. "Move on!" I yell. It was just a bush. I didn't plant it. It was in the way of progress and now we can grow and eat our own food. A huge leap forward for the environment and our dietary health.
I have to face reality. I have removed an established natural resource. In my defence, the old paved area has been replaced by a lawn, There's a mixed hedge of blackthorn, beech and hawthorn and four new fruit trees. The flower beds are full of nectar rich flowers and a wildflower area too. I know what I have done and I can live with it. What I've created is better than what went before. There's more space and more variety for wildlife and for me and my family. We all win, but the old buddleja has gone.
I'm still opposed to an airport in the Thames estuary.