What do you assign to Orthanc?

[Lindale]

I assign not coming to ROTC training today! Fell conveniently sick, haha! Our new commandant's getting a bit too queasy and irritating of late, giving one order now, and contradicts it later... it's irksome to be in his presence. But I pity my poor classmates in whom he must have given what should be my task...

[Lalaith]

Now I feel that some of the residents of Sandbanks in Dorset must quite literally be assigned to Orthanc...deeply ironical as it is so close Tolkien's old home....WHAT would Treebeard say to this?
Wealthy residents destroying trees in Dorset

[Mithalwen]

I couldn't believe it.... but the kind of people who have the money to live there tend to think they can do what they like... infact Sandbanks is Orthanc.... highly desirable location populated by.......

[Bêthberry]

Sort of makes a new definition for lumberjacking, eh, akin to carjacking.

Sadly, though, it sounds from that news report that none of the perps have been caught/charged/fined. So there's no incentive to enforce the laws protecting the trees.

I mean, sawing off the crown of a hundred year old oak can't be done quietly nor in a few minutes, and usually would require someone with some skill in arboreal care, so there has to be collusion in the community or a failure to call in when the attacks are happening, I would think.

[Mithalwen]

I don't know.. it isn't an area with passers by to notice.. big houses on big plots .. if you hadn't a nosy vaguely ecomentalist neighbour like me who reads all the planning apps. around you probably could.. many would assume it was legal surgery ..

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

I think just about every place in the world has its equivalent of Sandbanks. For us, it's a suburb called River Hills. Beautiful location, beautiful houses populated by too many people with vastly more money than brains. They get up in arms when the design of a newcomer's house -- by no means a radical departure from anything else in the area -- offends them because they don't like the color of the brick the newcomer chose. They have gotten riled up more than once because someone wanted to -- gasp, wheeze -- build a church in their town, their reasoning being that the church planned to have activities for teenagers, which would, of course, lead to such heinous crimes as playing basketball or baseball, and thereby creating unacceptable levels of noise in the middle of the day. And yet, some of these complainers are the ones who own companies who have been caught dumping industrial waste upstream in the very river for which their town is named.

It takes all kinds to make a world. Don't know if that's good or bad.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

returning home after 3 weeks of traveling.

It is nice, comfortable and safe. . .but you still long for adventure, new experiences (and people) and you miss the ones you left behind.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

I think just about every place in the world has its equivalent of Sandbanks. ......
It takes all kinds to make a world. Don't know if that's good or bad.

Oh I know...they changed the licencing laws and system a few years back and I spent six months working for lawyers preparing the resulting necessary applications... because the law was badly framed everywhere went for worst case scenario to cover their backs and so we got loads of letters from folk thinking that stately homes were going to become nightclubs when they just wanted to be able to serve wine in the interval of chamber music concerts.... which attract so many teenage hooligans...everyone knows that early music fans are lethal on that heady combination of harpsichord partitas and cheap chardonnay...