Category Archives: July 2010

27^th July 2010
Redcliffe roundabout, Bristol, UK.
Conifer (type not sure)

Manu is a dude I lived with for just over a year… this is our conversation in a tree…

Henrik:             say whats your name

Manu:            Manu

Henrik:            Aha, I knew that

Many            I know

[laughing]

Henrik:            wow actually can you see any eggs

Manu:            no

Henrik:            I recon its not an active nest

Manu:             I doesn’t look like it.

Henrik:            Cool, well ummm so where are we

Manu:            in the middle of an island, near the center

Henrik:            an island or a round-about

Manu:            a roundabout

Henrik:            its actually really nice, isn’t it

Manu:            yeah yeah

Henrik:            Ummm, have you noticed the card board down there

Manu:            yes

Henrik:            what do you think that is?

Manu:            where, I had noticed it, but I can’t find it

Henrik:            exactly under that tree that we climbed up the first time. Don’t know if you can see it

Many            oh no I can’t see it from here

Henrik:            Oh there it is

Manu:            ah yeah

Henrik:            it’s a homeless bed

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            it’s a bed for a homeless person

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            I would probably live here, actually if I did not have anywhere to live. Its quite, quite really lovely little

Manu:            and there are also some chip boards down there, oh no not chipboards like electricity, you know those little boards with all those little…

Henrik:            circuit

Manu:            circuit, yeah circuit boards

Henrik:            Manu don’t forget you are in a tree

Many            yes I do know that

Henrik:            you are getting quite foot happy

[laughing]

Henrik:             so tell me you have noticed a few things since being up here

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            what have you noticed?

Manu:            cars

Henrik:            cars [laughing]

Manu:            leaves, you, a microphone, twigs

Henrik:            leaves, me, a microphone, twigs… pine cones that look like grenades

Manu:            I have also got a bit of fluff, a bit of fluff on my sandals

[laughing]

Manu:            and the sky.

Henrik:             and the sky.

Manu:             Oh yeah I have also noticed we are up a tree

Henrik:            oh yeah we are up a tree

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            its not bad. So what other thoughts have you had about it, what do you reckon?

Manu:            it’s really nice

Henrik:            you didn’t, sorry yeah you were saying

Manu:            its really a nice tree

Henrik:             its really a nice tree and the other one wasn’t so nice. it’s a little bit cramped

Manu:            prickly

Henrik:            prickly and cramped. Whereas this one is like a hmmm kind of spacious. Have you ever built a tree house?

Manu:            No, but I really want to. Hmm well talking about…

Henrik:            Do you know where we can build one?

Manu:            Umm, No, sort of yes, sort of, yes…

Henrik:            Where

Manu:            I am not sure but I do know a place that’s certainly not possible

Henrik:            alright ok, I know a few places that aren’t possible as well

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            probably like in the center of town

Manu:            like here

Henrik:            oh yeah they wouldn’t be allowed to be kept here for long actually would it?

Manu:            yeah. My dad was gonna build one

Henrik:            oh yeah

Manu:            coz there is this  umm, there is this log place where he was gonna build but he was not allowed because John and Mitchell, the guys with whom my dad lives, who actually own the house, they said that they have got other plans and that’s why they have built this house thing for logs

Henrik:            right, ok a log cabin

Manu:            yeah… oh no, not exactly a log cabin, but sort of in a way, cabin for logs in it. Like a sheltering, a shelter for logs that’s it

Henrik:            yeah right, that’s not a log cabin, no, right no

Manu:            no, no, like a shelter for logs so that they can burn them on the fire, in winter and things

Henrik:            oh ok nothing to do with a tree house, not in a tree

Manu:            no, no

Henrik:             to put bits of trees in

Manu:            yeah, My dad was gonna make this thing that you can actually climb on and that was probably closest thing to a tree house I was ever going to get but probably the closest thing to a tree house and I would have a bin was probably in a tree house

Henrik:            have you been to a proper tree house?

Manu:             not a proper one but like some planks and planks of wood on a tree and things

Henrik:            oh, ok

Manu:             I actually want to get a tree house like the actual house, an actual house shaped thing

Henrik:            yeah yeah yeah

Manu:            with a ladder up the side of the tree

Henrik:            so there’s a tree house there

Manu:            a birds tree house [laughing]. That would actually be quite a nice tree

Henrik:            what if it was bigger

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            the nest?

Manu:            no not the nest, the tree

Henrik:            you wouldn’t like to live in that nest?

Manu:            No, the tree I mean would, you see down that there

Henrik:            oh yeah yeah

Manu:            that looks like, would be quite nice to

Henrik:            oh yeah, it looks like a one man tree house

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            you cold stand up in it. I tell you what you could just about fit a porter loo in that little er…

[laughing]

Manu:            yeah. Oh yeah I remember something funny, that there was Shambala I think on this. There was this thing and it was a portal loo

Henrik:            portal loo [laughing]

Manu:            yeah and it was this toilet and I stepped in it and then it went somewhere else, probably like the entrance to a room or something. So you stepped in and shut the door, but then you walk into a room or something like that

Henrik:            hmm did you do go in it

Manu:            No I didn’t I was at the secret garden party

Henrik:            oh right you are a different place

Manu:            yeah, My dad was there

Henrik:            careful yeah, please be careful. So what have we got to say about trees?

Manu:            trees, they are cool

Henrik:            [laughing] they are cool

Manu:            I like trees

Henrik:            I don’t know what can you say about them?

Manu:            I don’t know

Henrik:            what’s your favorite tree, what kind of tree?

Manu:            oh my favourite kind of tree, it probably has to be either an Oak or a magnolia

Henrik:             Magnolia, I’ve never even heard of a Magnolia

Manu:            I’ve got one growing in the garden, at dad’s house

Henrik:            really… a Magnolia

Manu:            Magnolia, sounds like mango

Henrik:            ok, is it a foreign tree, is it a tree from another country

Manu:            think so, something like that

Henrik:            right ok… I will have to look it up

Many            look at that tree, that looks totally dead

Henrik:            it does… well actually its not, look at the top

Many            well, yeah, its green on the top but this bit, it’s absolutely {makes a yucky sound] dead.

These are pine cones are like really cool.

Henrik:            So would you like to live in a forest?

Manu:            may be, sounds nice

Henrik:            in what sort of forest, what would it be like?

Manu:            it wouldn’t be a forest, with like just like trees, just like trees, but just like normal big like you know like a big base, like you see in like cartons and things, like a tree up, stalk up and then just green like that

Henrik:            ok

Manu:            like a long thing,

Henrik:            It would be like that?

Manu:             no it wouldn’t be like that. It wouldn’t be like the ones possible to climb. It would be ones like this basically, easy ones to climb

Henrik:            ok well all of the trees will be easy to climb?

Manu:             Yes.

Henrik:             ok. And what would you live in?

Manu:            …a tree

[laughing]

Manu:             like a huge oak or something, where you can put a slide down. A really really really really really old oak and you can put a slide and a ladder so then you have a house in the tree

Henrik::            Inside the tree, like in a hollow. Did you find a hollow oak on Ashton Court the other day?

Manu::            yes

Henrik:            Was it alive and hollow?

Manu::            No it was dead

Henrik::            Oh its dead

Manu::            And there is another hollow place in Ashton court which is actually quite cool. Its like a tree that’s growing like this, its actually going in the middle

Henrik:            like a banana?

Manu:            Yeah like, no. like this,

Henrik:             Yeah it kind of bends over

Manu:             But then stops

Henrik::            right, but is it alive?

Manu:            No.

Henrik:            alright, any live trees that have hollows inside that you know of?

Manu:            ummm, No

Henrik:            I think they do sometimes, oaks do are hollow inside sometimes

Manu::            hmmmm

Henrik:            I am sure about that

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            ok since we are doing an interview, I am gonna ask you about ummmm, what do you learn in school, what do you know about like climate change and that sort of thing?

Manu:            we don’t do much about climate change and things at school. I mainly learn that from my mum

Henrik:            oh yeah, oh really what does she say about it?

Manu:            save the world [laughing]

Henrik:             And ummm, I mean does it worry you or anything or are you not that worried about it?

Manu:            ummm, no, not worried about it no, I am a bit worried about it teeny weeny bit

Henrik::            what do you know about it? It’s not a trick question, just wondering about what you actually know

Manu::            ummm, not sure. Not so much… not really sure, can’t think of anything

Henrik:            What about oil?

Manu:            oh yeah I know, its everything about Sun and aerosol and that thing and cars gets rid of the ozone layer and if that’s all gone the sun will melt the icebergs and flood the world

Henrik:            ok. And um… I think, I am not sure. Can’t remember if Bristol would be under water, don’t think it would

Manu:            wow,

Henrik::            Coz, its like the sea level’s rising and because it depends on how high the land is and all that kind of thing

Manu:            yeah, yeah, like there will only be a few places, like places on very high hills and things that went under water. Imagine if there was one like mansion on top of a really big hill that everybody in the world had to fit in. I mean it would only be about that (measuring with his hands) big and everybody in the world had to fit in it and they managed it.

[laughing]

Henrik:            You would have to shrink yourself.

Manu::            yes,

Henrik:            How would they manage that?

Manu:            turn into an atom.

Henrik:            turn into an atom [laughing]

Manu:            or turn into fish

Henrik:            yeah, oh yeah, that’s a good idea

Manu:            eat so many fish, they grow gills and then, so they can breathe under water

Henrik:            So ummm.. what do you know about oil, what do you know about oil, like petrol?

Manu:            Cars use it,

Henrik:            yeah, and,

Manu:            not really much, no

Henrik:            no? What about war

Manu:            bad

Henrik:            its bad stuff, nobody wants that. Who wants war?

Manu:            what’s his name

Henrik:             Ummm Bush, George Bush. Who are you thinking of

Manu:            People, that’s it, people. No not people, presidents

Henrik:            Presidents?

Manu:            Presidents yeah, naughty presidents

Henrik:            naughty presidents [laughing] yeah

Manu:            who have a goatee on their head

Henrik:            ahhhh, horrible goatee President head, beard

Manu:            on their back as well. And ones that have their personal bodyguards armed with wet fish

[whistling]

Manu:            the most deadly weapon – wet fish

[laughing]

Henrik:            so what are you most interested in Manu

Manu:            to do with trees and things

Henrik:            or not to do, anything really

Manu:            that is a hard one, really, really hard one

Henrik:            ok if you.., have you the time bandits. You know they designed the reason they got chucked out of heaven or whatever that it was because they designed some sort of tree that was like 2000 meters tall or something

Manu:            was that it?

Henrik:            something to do with that and it was bright red, bright pink or something

Manu:            I don’t remember

Henrik:            something like that it was only a quick thing, it wasn’t in the film but they mentioned it.

Manu:             Oh.

Henrik:             If you could design a tree, what would it look like?

Manu:            it would grow in the shape of a house but the bit that is the shape of the house would be at the very top and it also grow smooth, like you know like they get the polished wood in the shape of a slide and like twigs that would grow like down to the floor and then bits that would grow from one twig to the other. So like a ladder and id also have a umm grow the shape like a TV holder, a DS holder, basically, and a wee holder and things like that and

Henrik:            right, what about the toilet how would that work

Manu:            it would have a toilet, a real toilet

Henrik:            well then would it go down through the trunk

Manu:            yeah it would grow into the, it go down the, no it grow, it go’d, it just, there’s be, um, like in all the branches and there would be a little pipe that just goes down the very very side of the trunk and there is a little tube that like, that grew in the shape of a chimp and then you put a little bit of rubber down there and

Henrik:            what would happen to the [whistling]

Manu:            it would go into the sewer

Henrik:            and where would it be, under the tree?

Manu:            yeah

(long pause)

Manu:            What?

Henrik:            ok would that be a separate like system, you would have the sewer system and then you would have the trees would be

Manu:            that, also every so often there will be this little thing like this wave or something you do something it would send water down, oh no the tree would be by the sea and the sea would have a tunnel to go in and every so often you’d pull something, and it let the block out of the tunnel and then close it again and it will wash everything

Henrik:            what the sewage?

Manu:            away into the real sewers

Henrik:            ahhh, that’s a good idea. So you have like the water from the sea wash in and then wash all out into another place into the sewage system.

Manu:            hjmmm, yeah

Henrik:            I like the idea of your smooth trunk that you can do, did you say what to slide down

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            and how would you get in

Manu:            the ladder thing

Henrik:            oh the ladder is made out of branches growing out of the …

Manu:            and the tree would be hollow so you would  … and it have holes in like the one at Ashton court you remember,

Henrik:            Yeah.

Manu:             Yeah, like that with all the different holes in and I could have a bit, it would grow out into a big tube

Henrik:            and that would be a bedroom

Manu:            no, that would be a balcony

Henrik:            oh ok

Manu:             and you would have a view of the sea

[whistling]

Henrik:            it sounds brilliant, I will live there as well, I’ll have the house next door

Manu:            and also to make sure no fishes get into the sewage thing, there’s like a filtering system yeah and there is another way for the fishes to swim back in

Henrik:            can you draw this for me? Not now but

Manu:            yeah, yea

Henrik:            then I will put it into the book

Manu:            I will try and draw it

Henrik:            yeah I would love that. Ummm and then so

Manu:            That twig looks like in A, can you see? This here…

Henrik:            oh yeah, its cool [laughing] Umm, yeah its very weird that you should mention this because this morning I wrote something about growing a tree, growing a house out of a tree and then I spoke to a guy who also mentioned that its actually possible and he’s a tree expert

Manu:            yeah I know, because you can make them shape and grow like a chair and a person, which I have actually seen in the Guiness book, no, not the Guiness book… Ripley’s Believe it or not

Henrik:            oh yeah, ok

Manu:            there is this thing

Henrik:            it’s a live tree that’s been grown in the shape of a chair

Manu:             and there is another one which grew in the shape of a person – 2 legs, a massive round body, a head and 2 arms

Henrik:            right, not like a bush an actual tree

Manu:            an actual person, an actual tree

Henrik:            anything else? If you could grow, so you already said it you wanted to grow a house, cool. Ok I think that’s enough of an interview. Thank you Manu, any last thoughts

Manu:            Bye, no thoughts, probably ummm… I think… I had something, but I don’t remember it. Oh yeah

Henrik:            this might sound a bit oh… go on go on

Manu:            No you should use it fine

Henrik:            No go on go on, I would rather hear what you are gonna say

Manu:            oh no really I wouldn’t say

Henrik:            no really

Manu:             no really

Henrik:            no really

Manu:            no really

Henrik:            no really

Manu:            you Henrik!

[laughing]

Henrik:             oh I was gonna say it is a really horrible thought but its in 2 parts yeah before I say this.

Manu:            yeah

Henrik:            Lets say you fell out of a tree, ok and you just thought I am gonna die what would be the last thing you thought

Manu:            bye

Henrik:            Goodbye [laughing] ok so lets say you did die and then you came to life, what would be the first thing you thought of?

Manu:            ahhh, ah I am alive, I am scared

Henrik:            you are scared, hmm that’s good, quite interesting. Who would be the first person you would think of ?

Manu:            probably my mum and my dad

Henrik:            … that’s a good answer…. thanks Manu

Manu:            oh my last things is… red pepper is nice, pasta is nice…

[laughing]

Manu:             I’m having baked potato for dinner.

Henrik:            have you ever eaten a bit of tree?

Manu:            yes,

Henrik:            Have you?

Manu:             Yes.

Henrik:            Shall we eat a bit now?

Manu:            Which bit looks nice?

Henrik:            I am gonna eat a little bit of that sap. oh wow, smell that, strong eh?

Manu:             I know what I’m going to eat… I’m gonna eat some of the bark.

(Manu spits the bark out)

Manu:             I’m going to have some of the sap.

Henrik:            My sap, its very strong, tastes slightly perfumy, I don’t recommend it.

Manu:            I want to get some, here we go.

Henrik:             you have to sort of pick it up with your nail. Have you got some?

Manu:            No.

Henrik:            Do you want a bit here.

Manu:             No… just getting some… (climbing down)

Henrik:            Here… no you want your own.

Manu:             I’ll be back up in a minute…

Henrik:            Well I am coming down as well… I think its time to get back (climbing down) Have you found some?

Manu:             I found it.

Henrik:            Have you tried it?

Manu:            No… I’ll put it on the end of… (pause) I see what you mean… it tastes kind of perfumy but… I wouldn’t recommend it as well.

(laughing)

Manu:            Bye… I am wandering off into the tree no

Henrik:            Into the sunset

Manu:            Bye

Henrik:            Cool.