Nuts and Bolts: Writing to the trees.

 You can find almost anyone's email address nowadays (unless it belongs to the customer services dept of a major company, obviously). In Melbourne, Australia (yes, there are other Melbournes in the world) you can even email the trees.

The forests of Melbourne are extra-important because, among other qualities, forest cover encourages rainfall, which is sometimes in short supply. Apart from a plan to plant many more trees, all the trees of Melbourne have been given an ID number and an email address. The idea was that members of the public could alert tree surgeons to any damage the trees might have sustained.

But the trees have begun to receive fan mail, and even personal stories. 

Occasionally, a trees will even respond.

Dear Oliver,

said one such email

Thank you for your lovely words. I am very well. Enjoy your day. Yours sincerely, Tree 1441724.

I'm surprised no one has thought of providing people with the addresses of trees before. A tree must be the best listener. They don't interrupt, or try to cheer you up before you're ready, and they can absorb any amount of agony without even wincing. 

And at the end of it all they are still there, and will be there for longer than most of us.

People have talked to trees for a long time, but writing is much less public and embarrassing.

It's an idea that should catch on.

Word To Use Today: eucalypt. Most of the trees in Melbourne are eucalypts, a lovely word that comes from the Greek eus- which means good, plus kaluptein, which means to cover or hide. The word was coined by the French botanist L'Hériter in reference to the flower bud, which has a cap, later discarded, which protects the developing flower.