As Toe-Paw Council are inviting submissions to decide the fate of the Taupahi Road Red Oak tree that they vandalised last November 2024, the following TRM winning suggestion provides an innovative sustainable option that they have missed.
If you prefer TRM’s winning entry option, then all you need to do is click on the “like” button and SWMBO will include your name in our submission. Thanking you in anticipation…
TRM announce the winning entry from the chainsaw massacre.
(AKA “yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!”)
Everyone in Turangi has been waiting in anxious anticipation for the independent investigation and report from Toe-paw Council to explain the reasons they pruned (massacred?) a protected registered mature majestic Oak tree on Taupahi Road last November.
In the meantime, TRM’s request for ideas asking for suggestions on what Turangi might do with the remaining stump was posted on TRM’s blog. This update is to congratulate the winning entry. As his house is on Taupahi Road almost in the shadow of the remains of his favourite Oak tree, he is afraid of Council and prefers to remain anonymous.
As soon as the TDC confirm they will pay for the carving, SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed is the Manager of everything except Council trees at TRM) will donate $1,000 to Ian Ashcroft (everyone knows Turangi’s arborist and landscape designer) towards providing a basic design concept and to supervise the Council-paid carver. TRM’s suggestion is that the proposed carving will need to be painted – primer, undercoat and topcoat – in a brilliant stand-out contrasting colour like a bright fleshy pink easily seen from SH1.
The original view of the lost Oak tree, looking north down Taupahi Road from the corner of Link Road before the Council vandals attacked.
Readers would be amazed at how the naked stump turned into a tourist attraction during the holidays. But when this winning entry is successfully endorsed and sensitively carved, the tourist potential is far greater. It would be unique in the region and to New Zealand.
Many tourist visitors and others with holiday homes in the Taupahi Road vicinity could not believe the Council could be so belligerent – to massacre a “registered” protected landmark tree without any forward warning to nearby residents, no consultation, no works plan or order number, etc. The remaining stump is more than an ugly eyesore. It is another clear confirmation of how poorly Toe-paw treats our cute little leafy village of Turangi. Perhaps they were jealous of all the deciduous trees that are such an attractive visual feature marking the seasons in Turangi. It was unforgivable.
Now it is time for TDC to APPROVE AND PAY for TRM’s innovative proposal to convert the sad ugly stump into a unique sculpture of classic beauty that will win the hearts and minds of all the lovely folk in Turangi and become a major SH1 tourist attraction for the region.
Warning to Council – more tourist parking will be needed. To satisfy the likely demand from tourists, it could also be a suitable opportunity to rebuild the toilets that Council demolished and never replaced next to the coffee cart about 15 years ago. The Council owe Turangi a significant carved emblem to replace the giant angler statue that was demolished further south on SH1 (see photo below) and has not been replaced. They did promise it would be re-erected in a prominent position but their recent loss of memory is typical of the way Turangi is disregarded or ignored. In such a relatively young town these local emblems are important, even if TDC do not care.
The remaining shape is perfect to design a giant carving of a majestic one-fingered salute.
This is not derogatory or insulting as it would be no more offensive than the giant totem pole the Council erected on Lake Taupo foreshore. It would certainly generate more international interest and attract more tourist photos than that carved pole. Council owe Turangi such a pole as a replacement for the pole that had stood proudly in front of the previous Council offices/iSite and Museum for over 50 years, then was suddenly demolished last year. See the “historic” photo below:
The history of such a monument goes back to the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and would be a visual reminder to Toe-paw Council forever, to remind everyone of their blatant indiscretion.
The one finger gesture originally dated back to ancient Greece and it was also used in ancient Rome. Historically, it was supposed to represent a phallus. TRM’s winning entry represents a simple modern artistic format as a perfect example of what Turangi folk think of Toe-paw. Council can interpret it as how they peed on Turangi. Everyone wins!
Why is the one-finger salute called the bird? Birds had been synonymous with taunting long before the mid-20th century. When the middle finger’s popularity grew once more, it became known as a wordless version of the goose-like honks and hisses of displeasure preferred by Brits and other Europeans.
Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, threatened to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger, it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow was known as ‘plucking the yew’ (or ‘pluck yew’), Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, See, we can still pluck yew!
The Americans refer to it as “flipping the bird”. Over the decades Americans have since revised the wording – the ‘pluck yew’ is now “f**K you” and the words were often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as ‘giving the bird.’
And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing!
