I've started writing down some of my own experiences with big government getting in the way of common sense. It reminds me of Thomas Paine in Common Sense : "our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer"
The Lemon Tree is the first true story:
I had a neighbour who (over his fence and next to a main road) planted a lemon tree. It was on a strip with no room for a footpath. He tended and watered and nourished it for about a week or two.
My wife received a knock and a council worker asked if we owned the tree. Well - the council ripped out the tree. When I rang to query why, they said that since they poison along the roadside someone may eat a lemon, get sick and then sue them.
It seems strange that here is a way that council land can produce food for free (with no transportation costs or fuel), a resident is doing all the labour and nourishment, and we pay rates to have them rip it out!
