Ask Phoebe: Venerable tree to be left as it fell in park

This tree in Grey Lynn was a casualty of the big storm a couple of weeks ago. Photo / Getty Images

Council decides victim of storm will stay as ecological and landscape feature.

After 80 years of standing guard over the playing fields in Grey Lynn Park, an old gum tree came down in the recent storm.

Ever the loyal servant to the public good, the tree came down at the one angle where it did next to no harm to either man or beast.

Now the tree lies on a ridge above the main playing field. All through the weekend, kids of all ages were admiring the trunk, climbing all over it, and just sitting beside it thinking about whatever one thinks about when something so large falls down after so long.

Is there anything that would stop Auckland Council from simply tidying up the trunk and leaving it right where it lies for decades to come? The alternative would be to haul most of the trunk to landfill. What better way to show respect for the old trooper than to just leave it where it fell, a reminder of the great storm of 2014?

Bruce Middleton, Grey Lynn.

I have some good news Mr Middleton. Jane Aickin, manager of local and sports parks central for Auckland Council, says the council will leave as much of the tree trunk as practicable where it fell during the storm. Not only will it provide a new landscape feature and point of interest for children, it will also serve an ecological function in the park, providing habitat to a variety of creatures as it slowly breaks down over the years. The council hopes the fallen tree trunk is a welcome and enjoyable feature of Grey Lynn Park.

I watched a rugby test recently, and heard frequent references to the TMO. Who is this? What does he/she do? And who has overall authority, the TMO or the referee? Hazel Wood, Balmoral.

TMO stands for Television Match Official, which makes perfect sense when you think of the hand movements the referee makes to refer an action upstairs to the TMO. Think charades. The TMO watches television replays of the action in question, which arguably gives a better view than that of the referee on the ground. The TMO is appointed to help the referee decide whether points have been scored. A TMO can only rule on exactly what the referee asks them (and in most unions they can only be asked about events in-goal or immediately before entering in-goal). The referee is the sole judge of fact and law, although he may take advice from the TMO and from touch judges and assistant referees.

A couple of corrections: I was misled by the question in Tuesday's column regarding the Franklin Rd/Wellington St/England St intersection. Vehicles on England St face a stop sign, and thus must give way to all traffic on both Franklin Rd and Wellington St. I apologise for my carelessness in not going to check out the intersection first.

Oh dear, No 2: I was also wrong about traffic leaving a driveway. The Road User Rule, amended in 2011, states that a vehicle leaving a driveway must give way to all traffic on a roadway, and to pedestrians or cycles on a footpath, cycle path or shared path.