Do You Have Any Decking In Your Garden/Yard?  

We have a raised flower/plant bed in our yard and the rest of it is made up of flags with a shed at the back. Decking reared its ugly head on that British "gardening" show called "Ground Force." Since then it's become a British obsession. Rather than having swathes of grass and stuff growing everywhere we have become a nation of "I can't be bothered growing nice things, let's deck it and have a barbecue area." Why does this happen? We don't get that much sunshine so why have decking and barbecues, it's not Australia! Is this just a British phenomenon or do other countries not grow anything either? I become upset at the lack of greenery in people's gardens. The shingled driveway for the car is now the dominant feature at the front of houses these days. No wonder we get floods, there's no grass to soak all the rainwater up. A family moved in across the road from my parents and the first thing they did was chop down a cherry tree that used to have beautiful blossom all over it in the springtime. Now there's just a stump but they haven't constructed a driveway for the car. So why did they chop the tree down? The only thing I can think of is that it may have blocked their light...but why couldn't they just trim it down? Why chop down the whole tree? It really annoys me when people dismiss nature as if it's some kind of hindrance to their lives. How do you feel about this and do you have neighbours that chop down trees for no reason then burn them like demented cavemen?