Trees vs progress

As I rode to drop Stella off at kindy this morning, through the foggy haze, I thought something was missing. The busy corner intersection just down from our house seemed different, but I couldn't quite work out why. It was on my return trip I realised that what was missing were the trees. On the corner is a large walled property which used to be the garden of the convent next door until they sold it off last year. The trees behind the wall were probably over a hundred years old and obviously in the way of whatever development is taking place! Our area has many old trees with protection orders on them, but because it is private property the developers can do as they please. And the worst thing is that the developers must have a sense of the upset it would cause as the trees were already felled and it was not even 9 am. I am guessing work must have started at the crack of dawn, before locals were aware it was actually happening. Progress wins this one.