Dismaland – here, there – and everywhere

There’s a school playground opposite my house.

And today, someone cut down a beautiful Japanese cherry that grew in the playground. The cherry flowered every spring and for a few brief days it showered the ground below with delicate petals; a memento mori in white and pink. And sometimes, to their delight, people would find a petal or two decorating their raincoats as they passed by, as they passed by the tree.

Now it’s gone.

Quietly it symbolises the Dismalisation of my town – and, by extension, at least half of England.

(The weird thing is that my town, Farnham in Surrey, is supposed to be an OK town.)

Note: With thanks to the Banksy phenomenon ‘Dismaland‘ down in Weston-(not very)-super-Mare.