Gary McNair

Technophobe

[Disappointed Optimist @disappoptimism]

Someone asked an AI to render what Ken Loach’s version of Star Wars would look like and….

I think I want to see it now

[The Bee Guy @the_beeguy]

So a #tree was cut down.
A sycamore.
A species I’ve often heard referred to as ‘dirty’.
Yeah for sure it was in a fortuitous location that made it more than the tree it was.
And the right place and time phenomena made it a Hollywood star back in the day.

So the lovers and dreamers came to make promises and dream in her presence.
The image makers captured her dramatically.
The travellers smiled and paused with the familiar stranger…

And then some gouger took a chainsaw to her and she is no longer.
She’s dead.
Gone.
Before her time.

Left exposed and humiliated on the ground where she fell.

And the outcry begins.
The social media frenzy.
The outpouring of grief, anger and opinion.
The memories. The stories. The conjecture.
The hopes and prayers.
The need for blame.
For punishment.
But for how long?
And for what?

Nothing will bring her back. She’s gone.
They’ll talk of art, regrowth, replacement.
But it won’t be her.
The icon.
The star.

A few days for the further afield and we’ll move on.
Those in the immediate vicinity will be left with the loss. The empty space.
But that too will gradually fade.

We’ll move on to the next nature tragedy. To do it all over again.
Destroy. Repeat. Destroy. Repeat.
There’ll always be a gouger. A chainsaw. A bully.
That’s the way it is. Isn’t it?
It’s now inevitable.

Or is it?

Could this be one of those moments?
You know the ones.
That cut too far.
That misdeed that mattered.
That single action that unwittingly set the chain in motion.

When they cut down the entire forest over time we often don’t see the trees. The crime.
When they cut down the tree in a moment we see the space.
We see the crime.
All the crimes.

What if this single sycamore and that dastardly act was a beginning not an end?
What if it galvanised all of the pent up grief and disappointment in ordinary decent people which is looking for a release. A focus. A hero fallen to elevate and carry on their shoulders?
Where is it written that the hero must be human?

What if this fallen tree represented more than an ignorant act leading to a sad ending?
What if we rejected the boy with the chainsaw and instead sought once more the boy who pulled the sword from the stone?

What if it represented the shit they pour daily into your #rivers and #seas? The poisons they spread throughout the land. The #hedgerows ripped and smashed. The #foxes and #badgers tortured and murdered. The disappearing #bees, #birds and #butterflies.
The once fresh #air that is now too just a fiction. What if it represented all of those other less celebrated #trees only one bad decision away from a similar but less noticed fate.

What if this was the tipping point that saw the voiceless, the timid, the bullied, the dismissed, the dreamers, the ordinary, the good that is still in us, gather quietly in villages, towns and cities below sycamores still standing and say without words or conflict enough? Enough.
We see.
We see.
We see an empty space where once stood a tree.
We see the future.
We see…

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar Ditto, they charged me twice recently for parking for less than 2 hrs. First £7 and then £11..
They agreed that I was somewhat overcharged and (once I could prove they’d taken the money) gave me £11 back..
Deleted the App and will never use them again 👍

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@JoeLangley_ @DrIanKellar @CherylGrindell Yeah, the nameless comment would have been for Ian alone. Didn’t mean to get a reaction from anyone, even Ian 🫢

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar @NadineDorries https://t.co/RGkIVHNDzk

[The Exploding Heads @Exploding_Heads]

📞"Nadine Dorries. The stuff she did for Boris, it would make your eyes water! She worked harder than an NHS nurse on him and now she's been cast aside like a crinkled tissue. It's disgusting!" 😡

Colin from Portsmouth feels for Nads.

[Carl Bovis @CarlBovisNature]

Today Elon took my Blue Tick away.
As an experiment to see if my reach has been affected, can you please do me a favour?🙏
If you follow me, and you see this tweet, can you please retweet it.♥️
To make it worth sharing, here's my photo of a rare Black Redstart after a fly🐦

[Chris Packham @ChrisGPackham]

This is brilliant - utterly brilliant . Watch it and follow @ClimateSciBreak & the superb @JonathanPieNews & get to London for #TheBigOne from the 21st April .
Please RT !

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar Mot the Hoople and Bez on the same tweet wins though 😇

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar @RobertDFBooks @BBCr4today @DrAnnaWeighall Thinking of Anna and all of you!!

[dominic dyer @domdyer70]

Disgusting cruelty by students at Royal Agriculture University in Cirencester educating the next generation of wildlife criminals @RoyalAgUni @LeagueACS

[Bristol Rabbit Rescue & Friends @bristolrabbitre]

Very sad & disappointing to see rabbits being moved from a bigger indoor area to a tiny hutch outside on the BBC programme “Sort your life out” The hard work of organisations such as @RabbitRWAF & rescues have put in to changing the perception of rabbit husbandry has been damaged

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar We were cool, my dad said so 😉

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar 😂😂 I feel more festive than ever now

[Gävlebocken @Gavlebocken]

I have arrived, Christmas can start ✨

[Carl Bovis @CarlBovisNature]

Retweet when you find it.. 😊

[Gary McNair @GrandMookster]

@DrIanKellar Or maybe obstacles are having a hard time avoiding your ninja flying skills? 🤫

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Told you so…

[Protect the Wild @ProtectTheWild_]

Please help us. We've just released shocking undercover footage from a pheasant shooting estate in Lancashire (@Leighton_Hall)

If you do one thing today please RT this and share our pinned tweet as far and wide as possible.

Help us shut down the shoot!