Steve Bullman

I treated myself to a battery stihl blower for the garden. Just as powerful as the petrol counterpart but with zero maintenance, minimal noise, and basically zero vibration. Not much else to say really!

Don’t quote me on this but I seem to recall a lot of the pro range stuff is made in Europe still. May be way off track though, or that information could just be outdated

Not just the energy companies ripping us off at the moment. A lot of these deserve jail time in my opinion Banks earn billions by failing to pass on benefits of rising UK interest rates WWW.THETIMES.CO.UK The biggest high street banks have made billions of pounds through the Bank of England’s latest rate rise but have not...

I just did this out of interest, the results were as expected. I dont really see what the whole issue is. You'd have to literally be doing all your work for a single company for it to flag you as an employee as far as I can tell.

On it 😁

3) Be open to employment. By this we don’t mean working, we mean PAYE. Changes in how HMRC treats self-employment mean that a lot of subbie jobs are not above board. Could you be seen as a disguised employee? There may be fines to pay if you are. A day rate might sound amazing, but you could be skating on this ice and, apart from that, many of the benefits of employment (like the ability to get a mortgage, have holiday pay, sick pay, insurance, PPE... the list goes on) outweigh the risks of subbing. Theres actually an interesting thread going on about this at the moment right here... Personally I don't see why anyone should be 'open to employment'. If they have what it takes to be self employed then it is a far better way of life in my opinion. And by what it takes, I mean being reliable, hard working, and motivated. Yes a day rate does sound amazing, specially when its job and knock, but as for all the things you mentioned ie holiday pay, insurance, ppe etc, this should all be accounted for in your day rate, so as long as you're not underselling yourself those reasons are null and void. I'll just dissect those a little further though.. Ability to get a mortgage Never affected me. As long as you are keeping your books then I don't see why it should be a problem for anyone. One of the reasons for being freelance is to earn better money, so unless you are doing something very wrong then there should be no reason why you can't get a mortgage. Holiday pay Accounted for in your day rate Sick pay Ok you got me with that one. Just dont get sick is my only answer. Insurance Freelancers DO NOT need insurance unless they are acting as a bona-fide contractor, and theres not a single freelance climber in the country that will be working as a bona-fide contractor. The only insurance you may want to consider is personal accident cover, and whilst thats sensible its certainly not a requirement. If you are a freelancer and one of your customers is telling you that you have to have your own insurance they are simply wrong or mis-informed by their own insurance company, in which case please direct them to this article: What is a bona-fide sub-contractor? | Tree Surgeon Insurance TREESURGEONINSURANCE.CO.UK What is a bona-fide sub-contractor and do I need Employers' Liability Insurance? We discuss these questions for Tree Surgeons. PPE Covered in your day rate, and as an added bonus you can buy whatever PPE you choose! No getting stuck with a pair of trousers that aren't a good fit for you just because they are the only type your employer keeps in the store room. And I dont just mean size, but every brand has a different fit to them and some just dont work with certain body types. Likewise with harnesses, climbing devices, ropes etc, you get to pick exactly what you want rather than whats in the stores. Theres barely a tree climber in the business that isn't a bit of a gear junky, especially in their first few years, so being self employed and being able to buy whatever you want whenever you want is a big attraction.

Not enough soil in there to sustain trees

I don’t think what they earn really matters. People generally end up living within their means. I know my own income generally goes up year on year, but I’m never particularly any better off, I just own more crap

Wasn't quite sure how to title this! I have an ugly wall that I would like to do something with. Always liked cloud trees which seem to be done quite often with Pyrancantha. Be quite happy if I never have to deal with another spikey plant again though, particularly something as vicious as Pryacantha. Also I have quite a small area to work with. That very narrow border as seen in the pic is basically it. Beside that is a guest parking space, so anything against the wall needs to be very compact and not interfering with the space. I got to thinking how about planting ivy against the wall and shaping it into a treescape. First obvious thing is the amount of work entailed. Facing it up would be a doddle, but the thought of going round the edges constantly to maintain the shape would be quite a faff. Then I got to thinking about putting some sort of shroud around the edge to mark the outline, meaning the Ivy would be free to grow at will, with the only maintenance being facing it up and running some snips around the outline of the shroud once a year. Question is how to make the shroud, and if it would even work. I was originally thinking something along the lines of that green lawn edging you can get, although im not sure of the longevity of that, so perhaps very thin strips of steel would be a better option...the shroud would probably need to be 2 inches wide. Then consideration needs to be paid to the Ivy growing underneath the shroud so this would need to be sealed, but would an outdoor silicone sealant work, or would the Ivy manage to find its way through that eventually? Thinking out loud here, but interested if anyone has any opinions or suggestions on any of the above, thanks

Does it list the ingredients?

I believe thats probably correct, I suppose a Judas tree in a graveyard would be sort of appropriate too

Came across this on my travels today in a graveyard. Feel I should know it but just can’t place it.

Would have been in the last winds a few weeks back. I walk this route regularly, just never stopped to take a photo before

Quite a feasible scenario

It was wind blown. It sat up when the top was taken off

Yep it’s unmistakably a gob. What I’m trying to work out is at what point it was made, before or after the trunk sat up.

You’re right there. one of my biggest gripes is how they use Instagram and Twitter comments to buffer out their articles, with such twaddle as…. one user wrote ‘blah blah blah’, whilst another said ‘blah blah blah’. i instantly click out when I see that. Why do they honestly think anyway cares what Karen or Rick have to say?

They are already trying to hound out the new leaders before they are even in power. Can’t say I’m a fan of either of these 2, but don’t quite see why they are using this line from truss as ammo, she’s basically right Liz Truss said British workers needed 'more graft' and lacked skill of foreign rivals, leaked audio reveals APPLE.NEWS A leaked audio recording has revealed Liz Truss said British workers needed "more graft" and lacked the "skill and...

The hedge on the other side of the road was flattened so I think the trunk sat up after they removed the crown

I’d love to know what went on with this wind blown tree. The props and use of an abandoned roadworks sign scream farmer to me though

Aspartame is in loads of stuff. As already mentioned its generally in stuff that is touted as healthy or sugar free. Heres a challenge for you. Next time you're grocery shopping try and find a bottle of squash that doesnt contain Aspartame.

Almost identical to my recipe with the exception of ginger and greek yoghurt added into the slow cooker

Well thanks for all the tips and tricks. Got the playground finished; will do the raised beds when it cools down a bit!

How much do bartletts charge for something like this? I think you need to take into consideration what your next step would be if it turned out they were poisoned. I’d imagine it would be next to impossible to prove it was the work of your neighbours.