Cutting down trees

is not something I like to see done. I know it is essential sometimes. The tree might be dead or in a dangerous condition.
In order to avoid that state of affairs Middle Cat sent her "gardening man" over with his chainsaw and wood chipper yesterday.  It has to be explained here that Middle Cat's "gardening man" does not appear at her place on a regular basis. He comes in to do the things she cannot do and her husband does not have the time to do. (S....often works a sixty hour week  - some of it at very odd hours indeed.) 
But T.... arrived yesterday, late because he had left his chainsaw at  home.   "Blimey Cat - I'd leave my head behind..."
We looked at the bottle brush and  the avocado. The bottle brush should be a bush but Mum let that one grow. She hated cutting back anything at all. Our regular "heavy gardening" man has been trimming it but  there was a  dead branch that was in danger of dropping into the driveway - perhaps on to the roof of a car. 
    "That bit needs to go," T.... said. I agreed.
    "I can get at in round the back."
I agreed again. He looked some more, marked out some likely points. We stood back and looked. Yes, that seemed sensible.
The avocado tree came up by accident. Again, it was just left to grow. It's too high for me to reach any avocados that do happen to appear. The possums usually get those.
    "Needs to get cut down a bit as well as back - all those dead bits can come out. I'll get rid of these three suckers. What about that bit?" 
 "That bit" goes across into the garden next  door. Both the neighbour and I have been hoping that it might bear fruit. It never has.  I explained.
   "Best it get cut back because it will help this bit here."
I left him to it and tried not to cringe at the noise of the chain saw.
Four hours later the whole job was done. Our "green" bin was less than half full because he had used his wood chipper. The drive way was swept clear of all debris and he had gone to mow Middle Cat's back lawn. 
The whole job cost us a tenth of what a "professional" tree service would have cost. 
    "Nah, I told your sister what it would cost. That's plenty," he told me. "Let me know if you need anything else like that done."
We will.
When he had gone I looked up at the bottle brush. The birds had gone back into it.  And in the night the possums were back in the avocado tree. This morning I looked again. It was almost as if the avocado tree smiled at me and said, "Thanks for the hair cut."