Time.news – Skeletal, anemic, clumsy … in a word ‘spelacchio’: exactly as it happened in 2017 in Rome, London too has its ‘spelacchio’, a gaunt Christmas tree in the middle of Trafalgar Square.
It is the traditional Norwegian spruce which, since 1947, Norway has been giving to the United Kingdom every year as a thank you of the support gained during the Second World War. Yet this year the gift was nothing short of bad luck, a catalyst for such and so many criticisms that the Oslo city council ran for cover, which will vote whether to send another one quickly to London.
The 21-meter tall Norway spruce landed in the British capital last month and immediately attracted criticism. The ‘keyboard lions’ have been unleashed, someone has ventured that it could have been the revenge of the Norwegians for the dismissal of the compatriot Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United manager.
The London ‘Spelacchio’: the Christmas tree donated by Norwegians to the British and erected in Trafalgar Square
The Westminster City Council attempted to defend friendly relations: “I don’t know what a tree 20 meters tall and 90 years old looks like, but it will certainly be different from the one you have in your garden”, a spokesman replied piqued. .
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appeared a bit biased in calling him “splendid”. A Norwegian journalist, Gry Blekastad Almas, assured that there was nothing personal about the unsuccessful gift and he simply explained that some branches simply broke off in the transport. In short, a story that risks touching the diplomatic crisis.
In Oslo they received and they are ready to vote on whether it should be replaced. The embarrassment is such that one councilor, Anne Haabeth Rygg, has even speculated that the Norwegian capital pays for the cutting down of a new tree in Britain, rather than sending another one that may not arrive in time for Christmas (the fir trees are transported by sea and then by truck). However, the outcome is uncertain. Already the mayor of Oslo, the socialist Marianne Borgen, has said that she will vote against: the one sent “was not the Disney tree, nor a plastic tree” but a specimen from a natural forest – he ruled – and “there was you should expect it to have an uneven appearance. ” In short, that Oslo sends another is far from obvious.
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