June 8th, 2010 (book 2)
Location: Coronation Road roundabout (near Asda, St Mary Redcliffe), Bristol
Type: Fir tree of some sort
You may be observing a pattern. Most of the trees I climb at the moment are in a certain area of Bristol. I’ve often thought how – if you were to map the places you go on a daily basis – most people would tend to travel along the same streets, to the same places – most of their life, good for the environment, yes. 
I always found
that quite depressing – to be so restricted – when it comes down to it. You could create a map, and the thicker roads being the trails you use mostly. The branches of your life spreading out from where you live into the city… This map with a resemblance to the patterns of a trees route towards the light. And again – like the neutral network, so I just hope my neutral networks aren’t as conservative with such established routes as the ones I walk. In other words – I’d like to think of myself as an inventive thinker – however, it’s likely the motorways in my brain – the habits of thought are there for a reason. Practicalities.
Which brings me round to pruning. Sculpting nature. It can obviously create beautiful results – like amazing gardens, bonsai – that have a magical quality…etc…And there’s something to be said for trees that have been left. City trees are entirely different from trees in woodland. Like city people I suppose – more kept and less ‘free’, trained to grow in a certain way, and this comes back to the brain – the neutral network, the familiar trails – in my head – some good, some bad. Some things I do and think I do and think without thinking. Perhaps I need to do some pruning inside my head? Or perhaps it’s a season to let the neurons go wild? Or maybe both. Like Monet’s garden, a measure of kept and ferrel.
(See email / notes June 8th)
If my brains neural net [work?] was like a tree – it would probably be…i’d imagine a composite of the trees I’ve climbed so far. That’s a cop out, but…it’s probably a stupid thought. The question is more to do with – what tree is my personality. If I was a tree, which tree would I be? Or like to be? The answer is still the same.
