A new type of alien tree

The tall alien and the normal pine tree close by.

Driving around the suburbs today I came across a new alien tree.

In fact I found a couple in our suburb and have seen others in places as far away as Plettenberg bay.

It looks like a pine tree and has a very distinctive shape.

As you may be aware pine trees are aliens here in South Africa and have to be chopped down.

This new pine tree does not seem to suffer the same fate.

The odd thing about the tree is that it is taller than most pines I have seen, has a smooth bark and all the trees have exactly the same shape.

They seemed to have been cloned.

They are amazingly fast growers as one day they are not there, and the next they are, and are over 20 metres tall.

Reminds me of Jack and the beanstalk and the magic beans.

I decided to do some research and when I took a closeup look this is what I found.




Look closely and you will see the receivers hidden in the branches

The mobile phone companies have got rather sneaky and don't want to foul up the environment with their nasty shaped repeater stations.

They've come up with a novel idea of disguising them in a metal tree that looks like a pine.

No wonder there are so many of them springing up all over Cape Town.

Next time you use your cellphone look out for the alien that is transferring your call.

Geoff Fairman

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