I used to wake up on lazy Sunday mornings to the sound of rustling palm leaves and newborn birdies chirping madly in their nests hidden somewhere in those palm trees. I used to look out the windows and watched the red palm trees in the garden, thankful for the shade they provide.
I used to tell my friends that my house is the one surrounded with red palms and that they won’t miss it. I used to stare at the welcoming sight of towering palms around my home every time I drive into our neighbourhood after a long day at campus.
I used to fuss about how those palm trees managed to effectively block our view of fireworks during Chinese New Year. Or how they seem to be a make our already-small garden look more crowded.
But damn. I can no longer feel all that now.
Red palms, eight of them to be exact, were the pride of our garden ever since we moved into our house. They were since a part of our life in many ways. Unconsciously, they played important roles in our everyday life. And only when they were gone did we feel the importance of their existence, however insignificant, in a significant way.
It all started in November last year, when my dad decided for some reasons that we had to have the palms in our garden removed.
So my parents consulted with a few family friends who had contacts, and one of the plans even involved sawing off all eight palms and even charging a couple-hundred per tree. Very cruel okay? But eventually we went for none of those plans involving dead red palms.
It was a real pity to just bloody saw-off those lovely red palms! 8 years is no short time.
Palms going public?
Then my dad had this sudden idea of giving the palms a whole new home — not just anywhere but at the spanking-new BDC Interchange.
Then, it was mid-November, 2007. Landscaping work had just begun on the landbank between the interchange, now known as the Kenyalang Interchange. It is the very first impression visitors to Kuching have once they disembark their flights from the Kuching International Airport.
So my dad approached one of the labours working on the landscaping there and found out that the man behind the landscaping contract was Cyril Lim of Seng Gardens. Contact and emails followed as my dad e-mailed Cyril of our plight.
The offer was that we give away the red palms to Seng Gardens, all eight of them, free of charge. My dad even suggested that those palms would be more than suitable to be planted at the BDC Interchange project Cyril is working on. The only deal on the part of Seng Gardens is that they cover all the effort and costs of removing and transporting eight mature red palms of an average height of about 15 metres.
And hey, they have nothing to lose since our red palms would definitely be a great addition to the new BDC Interchange landscaping! And everyone knows mature red palms like those costs a bomb, we’re giving away eight of them — for free! =D I don’t know about you, but it does sound like a great deal for anyone.
Well at last, it was safe to know that the palms aren’t going to waste. Instead, they will be placed in the view of public and first-time visitors to Kuching. At that point in time, I didn’t feel that bad anymore, and even thought those palms would be better off in the middle of the BDC Interchange rather than cramping among themselves in our garden.
Wrap up.
So, did Seng Gardens give a favourable reply to my dad’s offer? Did the palms survive the rather dangerous feat of transplanting them to a whole new surrounding? Stay tuned for Part two! =D
(is it just me or does the above paragraph sound like a commercial break? LOL. xD)
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why you want to give it away? too big for ur backyard?
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Nolah. It should be ‘too small for my backyard’ lah aduh. xD
Actually yeah, they got too bushy over time until my parents decided they were cramping the garden.