There is a bent Scots pine on my cycle route into town that makes me smile every time I pass it. It is bent in an improbable manner, like it didn’t get the memo that street trees are mostly straight and restrained in their demeanour. It leans over the cycle path with one of its huge limbs stretching out horizontally before righting itself, like a seat for a giant.
On a very ordinary stretch of road, it is an unexpected character. Surrounded by boring box units and universal architecture, where every city feels more or less similar, it is urban trees like this that bring identity to our world through colour, sound and seasonal change.
