Today's Posts

I mainly judge by my personal experiences. I have spent entire nights in our local A&E with my elderly mother, being ignored, while she spews her guts out. One occasion she went to the hospital on her own and it was left to other patients and their friends/relatives to help her as she struggled with acute pain. Yes sometimes the NHS works great, I am aware of that, but in my area it is a lottery to say the least. If I or any of my family need emergency help now we will either go to Bristol or Cardiff as the service in the local hospitals is just so poor. It may be better for you if you are in England - don't forget that in Wales we have had muppets managing the health services for 25 years or so. My dad was let down badly by his GP and then when he had a fall at home he could not summon help and when the neighbours raised the alarm it was too late. If his GP had actually seen him instead of just giving him repeat prescription month after month he might still be here. My wife had a terrible battle with our local GP to get her mum assessed for dementia. Finally after eighteen months she got referred, and the memory clinic said there would have been more help available for her Alzheimer's if they had seen her earlier. I could go on, but in my area health services are terrible and don't work. Also bear in mind that there are many alternative funding systems available. NHS Wales has a budget of £9 billion. The best part of one billion of that goes on free prescriptions. This is partly a waste of money, and if they followed the model in England (where it is means tested) they might be able to afford one or two more nurses in my local A&E (it works out the Newport area spends £53 million on free prescriptions - if even a tenth of them had to be paid for that could potentially pay for an extra 40 nurses and thirty nursing assistants). Why do we in Wales give everyone free prescriptions? And that is just one example of terrible waste - I bet there are more... As for the BBC, I think they make a lot of good programmes, and I love listening to the cricket on the BBC radio. But what I object to is having no choice but to fund them. I think they have a very strong political agenda. So do many other organisations - but I choose not to fund them if I don't agree with their point. Why am I forced to pay for the BBC? If the funding model changed to subscription then as long as lots of people like the output they would still be well funded.

Well done. I don't know if it makes any difference, but I use a bit more two stroke oil in aftermarket pistons and cylinders, especially the first tank.

Wordle 1,542 3/6 ⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛ 🟩🟩🟩⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Early bird gets the worm.

I imagine that was an interesting conversation.

Thanks, chaps and chapesses: Lois's page AJBELLGREATNORTHRUN2025.ENTHUSE.COM Hi, for those of you that don’t already know me, my name is Lois Scott. In December 2022, our lives changed dramatically as I lost my dad, Shaun Scott to suicide. My dad was 52 when he...

When he was all shiny and new, still pottering around.......... haven't worn Haix for years 🤔

I really hate using punctuation….. FULL STOP!

I thought it was a bit dark but I wouldnt have guessed that it was elm.

Self employed, tickets, climbing kit, pruning saw, drive a car, ready for days. Contact for day rates. Based in Hounslow, willing to commute up to 45 minutes if the juice is worth the squeeze.

im terrible with names of anything, ill get a picture of it when im using it on Friday

First proper use of ladder. I like it, very stable. It fits well on the roof rack, rungs are perfectly spaced. It'll extend two steps higher.

Interesting, something I have thought about doing and I bought a set of excersize bands for it last year - I remember the thick one is something like 60 or 80kg pull strength and would likely launch a throw bag to the moon! I dont know if I'd care for the trigger but its a neat solution. I'll watch the video later. I wouldnt really want to carry an extra steel pole. I wonder if a launcher head could be affixed to my Magnusson pruner pole or to my ladders.

In loo of machinery a good breakfast I assume .

It was cheaper to have wife insured on my truck than just me .

Just putting feelers out ,ive the following saws from new and are un used ,they've been run up on aspen and bar that just sat on a shelve not being used. Photos and prices to follow Echo cs370 es x1 as new Echo 362 top handle x1 new Efco mt3700 ground saw x1 As I say only putting feelers out , echos brought when fgm became the importers , fgm shifted stuff on .

They are a bit dearer but you can get one from Toolstation very similar tool. I got a Chinese one off eBay years ago, it doesn't get a lot of use but it still starts third pull and runs nicely. I have rebuilt the carb a couple of times due to my own fault but it's a simple enough machine to work on.

That is a distinct possibility Stubby, as the fuel tank is totally separate and unless somebody flushed it and replaced the filter shows no sign of any chain oil, same with the carb, but the carb does show signs of removal and cleaning and hadn't been completely refitted. I shall investigate further.

Hi Everyone ,my mill is up for sale its a Woodland Mills HM130 Max I have had it from new its always been under cover and well looked after its got less than 20hrs work on the clock ,about 8 ripper 37 bands but they have gone a bit rusty so dont know how well they will cut ,I can help with loading and maybe delivery ,I want £3000 and will not take any less as its ne t to brand new it may need a new battery for the elextric stsrt but Iwill chargecthe one on it and see .my mobile is 07449736569 ,I will leave it on hear for a week / 10 days then advertise it elsewhere ,I am gutted to be letting it go but hey . Cheers Mark

It's the chemistry of biomass. The white wood of a short lived tree serves only to support the crown it has about 1% minerals and the rest is cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose, the working parts of the tree like the leaves and bark are more complex and need all the other chemicals to do their job and it is these that need the small amounts of potassium, silicon and other trace minerals that end up in the ash. grasses have high ash content because they do not differentiate into a support system. There was a database (Phyllis) which showed the chemical content of many plants, I haven't looked for it for a few years.

One side comment here, then back to predicting Trumps policies via Hollywood US Senator Johnson (? I think): "Trump was an FBI informant in the Epstein case" Also US Senator Johnson later in the same interview: "Trump knew nothing about Epsteins crimes" ... or words to that effect... Bit of a contradiction there, if you know nothing what were you informing the FBI about: "Hi FBI, Here to spill the beans, I know nothing" "Excellent and can you elaborate this nothing" "No, told you everything I know nothing about" "Great, thanks, we'll put you on the FBI Informants list" ...I Suspect what Johnson is really saying is "Trump was fully aware of Epsteins child rapes while he was doing them, and spoke to the FBI later to save his own skin" as you were, what films would make good US politics?

Big manky Poplar picked up off site this week. Straight onto pile to go out for biomass!!!

Pigeon? Saw them on rocks whilst climbing. Took photo thinking it may be something rarer. Wintours leap in Chepstow.