A STOMPer is worried about the damage caused by a sapling that is growing on the wall of a shophouse in Middle Road.
He says:
"These pictures were taken at an old shophouse in Middle Road near a Hainanese chicken rice shop.
"The sapling of a fast growing tree is growing beside a gutter of an old shophouse.
"One day when the tree is fully grown the wall of the shop may collapse and the pillars will also give way.
"It is clear nature is stronger than man-made concrete because time is not on our side."
Related post: This tree has claimed a bridge of its own (30th January 2009)
Such scenes are a reminder that if the human species should disappear one day, our cities will not remain standing for very long. Sooner or later, plants will take root in the cracks and crevices, and just as how they've been turning rocks into soil for millennia, will do the same to concrete.
I'm reminded of this short animated film, showing the vast expanse of geological time, and how the last few thousand years of human civilisation are just a blink of an eye in the Earth's history.
