Tree Hugging

My brother's birthday - always a dilemma. The dilemma being that as I have very little to do with him, it's really hard to buy him anything. I had shied away from the classic fall back for blokes of socks on two grounds; it was too much of a cop out and also, well I don't know what size feet he's got. This decision was a baaad one as upon discussions with the Oracle, footcoverings had been a required article. Bugger.

The perfect gift presented itself to me in the form of a twisted willow tree. I'd be leaping around like a frog in a sock if I was given one. Who wouldn't be thrilled to the gills with a twisty tree heralding in spring? I think I found the answer to that.

Still, there are a lot of advantages to buying a tree (well grafted sapling to be precise).

You don't have to wrap it - well I guess a half hearted attempt could have been made to put a bow on it.

It's really hard to not use it - afterall all you have to do is plant it and it's not like you can just wheel out on high days and holidays in the unlikely event of a visit by the giver (in my case it would probably have turned to fossil fuel before I was likely to be dropping in)

It's a constant reminder of the kind person who gave it to you......

It can't be passed on to someone else as a cheapskate way of funding another present

There is endless fun involved in getting into a car as twisty it may be, flexible and foldable it isn't. Much hilarity can be sourced from watching someone wrestle with Nature's Gift in an attempt to get into a car that has been boxed in all sides. Although there is a slight trade off here in that much fun can be sourced by walking blithely around with said article not realising just how close you are getting to "treeing" someone.

And of the course the best bit is when someone opens the door and you can thrust a tree at them and say "it's a tree, for a present" and beam like a very contented gloworm.

Happy Birthday!