wealthier, younger and happier in a tree-lined street

There are a lot of nice trees in Frankston South....

 

A little off topic but I used to work at Big W. I worked in footwear. I found the customers are not necessarily pleasant or nice in footwear. I was an expert on footwear. You'd help them out, go and get sizes for them from out the back and you'd barely hear a thankyou. Then one day I helped out in the greenhouse section. The customers there are so nice! 360 degree difference! Always easy to have a nice chat with them.
I came to the conclusion that plant people are nice people.

Unfortunately I recently visited the store and they got rid of the greenhouse (maybe due to shopping centre changes)... in its place is the "party store".... full of imported consumer plastic rubbish from China.... so sad...

 

I'm tempted to put on some "Official Tree Planter" kind of clothing and start planting down my street. Spending a few hundred at bunnings could nett me many thousands in 10 years!

 

Maybe I watch too much TV and I remember there was an interview with a lady who got paralysed because of the fallen tree branch when she was driving along a tree-lined street. She couldn't get car insurance compo and council refused to take responsibility.

Since watching that interview, I was reluctant to pick PPOR on a tree-lined street. I know, it is just me. Most people wont worry about it.

 

Deep pockets & short arms psylink, just go down to the council depot, they give out trees for free.

 

Yeh, after watching that doco I remember coming to the same conclusion. I'm in a new estate now and they seem to be planting trees out the front of every lot as each new stage is released. My guess is that the developers plant those trees for reasons other than a love of nature.

 

My best high school jobs was to work as assistant in florist shop or on the market selling flowers. People were so nice, always happy and polite. As Gockie mentioned 'plant people' are nice people.

I also like trees. That's one of the main reasons why we are looking to move to an acreage.

 

Oh no, not cutting of the jacarandas, liquid Amber indeed.

MTR

 

See, to me; there is no excuse for not being at least civilised and courteous.

How frickin' hard can it be...they are there doing something which they are probably happy to be doing - buying new shoes - and treat the staff like ****?

What's with that?

It is all about their upbringing - or lack of it.

Having worked serving the public for most of my working life, when I am on the other side of the counter, I try to treat the staff that are serving me; really well....ask nicely, say thankyou and so on...don't bash their ear with my personal dribble like old folks do...just do the business in a succint and friendly manner and get out of their way, because I know what they have to put up with ...but why should they have to "put up with" rude, ignorant, selfish pigs of customers?

Humans are a disgrace, and the ones who are decent are disappearing into the minority, swamped by ignoramus boguns and low-lifes who are procreating at a dizzy rate...in all Countries.

rant over.

 

I grew up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney on an average size block with average size houses. Moved to South Sydney to work in the city. Found it very hard to adjust with all these dwellings so close together. Neighbours balconies looking onto my 3rd floor unit balcony. Had to keep blinds closed most of the time to keep the nosey old lady from seeing what I was having for dinner. Then telling people we mutually knew what I was doing everyday. Barely any privacy. Don't even get me started with the Building Corporation manager live-in old guy downstairs who would monitor what time people had showers as the main water lines ran through his unit. He once told me 'don't have showers after 10pm. I can't hear my tv'. hahahaha.

I'm sure it's fine for some people but I couldn't do it for more than a couple years. I'll take a decent block and house any day.

 

Love Jacarandas too!

For personal harmony/happiness I think trees and greenery have a lot to do with it, regardless of whether it be an inner urban locale or open countryside. I just got back from Vietnam and though the entire country is packed like sardines (95 million people in a country only marginally bigger in land mass than New Zealand...), one constant as I traversed up and down the country was that greenery was very much part of people's lives everywhere - both indoors and outdoors. Every house, restaurant, hotel, public building I visited brought greenery in and outside of buildings.

I loved it and when I asked a local about it, in broken English she said 'it makes building relaxed'. Even at my desk at work now (office with no balcony and recycled air-con all day...) I've loaded my desk up with plants and it makes a world of difference to mental health and focus.

 

To be fair that just means it was badly built and designed. The equivalent of living in a terrible house and deciding houses aren't for you anymore

 

I grew up in the hills, on the very border of Kelmscott and Roleystone, on a half acre block which went into bush on two sides. Lived there until I was 18, when mum and dad moved us to Waterford instead. I was so unhappy there - all I saw when I looked out of my bedroom window was the back fence, and other people's houses. It was a completely unexpected shock - I had no idea that living in what felt like a semi rural area would have such a big impact on me. It took me an awfully long time to adjust to it.

We have recently bought in Wembley and in a few years' time we'll be living there. No natural bush, but the street has lots of big blocks with big setbacks and verge trees. I can't wait!

 

@WattleIdo is the wattle out in your neck of the woods? They have been going gangbusters here the last month or 2. Great tree.
Jacarandas are good but the roots can be shitfight

@Bayview great rant!! hahah stick it to em!! along those lines I love seeing people in customer service that hate their jobs, im not even angry with the poor service i just feel happy with myself that I dont work in an industry I hate

 

I didn't think they would approve of me planting them on their footpaths. Might give them a call actually and see what their thoughts are. Thanks for the tip Scott!

 

@psylink council are a funny breed but they probably would be ok with you planting, just find out what species and as Scott said you can get them for free do it's usually encouraged. Just don't take their "pot"plants
Or find out their planting schedule and what's planned.you might get your street added to their list

 

The unit blocks I lived in seemed to be fairly common in the 70's. The whole street almost had a similar design where 3 story unit blocks were built parallel with the balconies of each unit directly facing the balconies of adjacent units. The are so many of these from that time. Perhaps it was bad design. Still, a little too congested for for me. Even in a poorly designed house on a decent block I think you'll still get more privacy and by privacy I mean both visual and also audio privacy. Doesn't matter how good a unit is designed sometimes you are just too close and can hear everything. But it's a matter of tolerance and how much you are willing to ignore.

 

Jen we grew up in Kelmscott too on a large-ish block that had a creek reserve at the back. It was funny to see that same house came up on Selling Houses Australia recently - it didn't sell and has been on the market ever since - poor growth since my parents sold it in the late 70s http://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-wa-kelmscott-119163703
We moved when I was 5 from there and my parents bought a 700sqm block in the burbs that backed onto a school and a park to keep the tree feel.
For the past 18yrs I've lived with lots of space around me and our next PPOR will be 10 acres. We'll start planting trees on it soon to get them established over the winter.

 

My wife grew up on 5 acres and needs her space now that she is in the city.

Luckily we managed to get the best of both worlds in a way. 1600m2 block 10k's from Brisbane cbd. It's got lots of trees, a massive pecan nut tree which gives us heaps of nuts each year. Enough space for my wife to plant all the fruit trees she wants. Has planted about 20+ fruit trees so far.

And the two golden retrievers love the big yard, they can get up to a full sprint and daily do laps around the yard.

When I finally slow down with all the work I do, it will be nice to relax in the backyard full of nice trees. Just have to suck it up for a couple more years before that though.

 

Time to get a development up and running on that site @Tim86 - 4 x 400 m2 blocks