Steve Bullman

So this is the 394 replacement I take it?

Christchurch park?

ID on this one anyone?

I sprayed off the area underneath the swing set prior to putting down the sleepers, membrane and chips, and just got a bit carried away with the sprayer whilst I was at it. Plus what Mark Bolam said.

Small garden. By the time we extend the patio in phase 2 there won’t be enough left to bother keeping any at all

One thing you can do is add yourself to the tip site directory

It would probably have more effect though

Seems they are being taken seriously

Italys turn next month also

Definitely stems from that

30's no age for thinking about getting off the tools, unless you're inherently lazy, bored, or more of a those who can't, teach kinda guy (or gal). It is however the ideal time to starting thinking about and planning your long term exit strategy.

That’s actually a really good idea. Perhaps then we could look at targeting them effectively one at a time rather than just constantly mentioning ‘issues’

You sound like using it for similar amounts of time as me. It will be more than adequate.

This is the thing with the battery gear. Once you actually have the batteries the units are cheaper to buy than petrol, but if you are only purchasing one sort of tool without planning on more from the range then it does work out quite pricey.

I have the BGA 86

Yep already had them. I have a battery topper,, strimmer, and lawnmower, although I just sprayed off all my grass so the mower and strimmer will probably be up for sale soon.

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 May be way off track though, or that information could just be outdated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