Thing of beauty reduced to a few skeletal fingers

FOR as long as I can remember there has been a beautiful, large tree gracing the top of the hill coming up to Sundays Well in Cork. I think it’s an oak, but I’m slighly ashamed that I don’t know for sure. It’s one of those things that gives a sense of permanence to a place, to a city.

Well, it is no more. First it seemed the city council was lopping off the branches overhanging the road. Fair enough, health and safety must be adhered to.

But now all that remains is a sturdy trunk and its skeleton fingers.