Charlieh

ah i get it now! you by a big gun, then threaten homeowners into letting you do shady work (and then charge them for it as well)

my wife has the car i have the 4x4! shes normally the one going to tescos (i cant really stand the place) and im not sure where skanky came into it my landy is very tidy also another vehicle to consider would be the suzuki grand vitara cough cough just happen to know wheres theres one for sale as it happens! :wave: my Grand Vit has been my weekend run around but insuring and taxing two 4x4s is getting a bit much now really,

i have a 130 landy, used to use a L200 mainly off-road in the highlands and have frequently driven Navaras, these are my quick opinions on all the L200 is a great off road vehicle, but fairly thirsty (very if on decent off road tyres) i was getting about 220miles on £65 of fuel but that was on off road highland estate tracks! the Navaras are better if your doing more road work with a little bit of off road, better fuel economy, better towing than the L200. But servicing costs are higher. I dont rate them as highly as the L200 off road though My 130, its unreliable, thirsty, noisey, slow and way to big to pop to the local tescos in........but for work its bloody excelent. Will go everywhere the above two will and then some, will tow better, servicing costs are lower (although it does need a lot more TLC than the others would) and is a great vehicle for what it was designed to do!

so its worth me contacting the accountant before i pay out on this one then? even if i dont save anything this time, i will make sure its sorted next year! think i have always been worried about being taken for a ride by the accounant, but its got to be better than being shafted by HMRC!

ok so i think i need to sort my filing out (quickbooks, free version of their website) and sort my bank accounts, i currently have some way overcomplicated thing that has 3 sub accounts, then sort myself out with a decent accountant (i figure using the quickbooks software will make it easier for the accountant and me, shame it cant make people pay on time! )

trouble is my first year was pratting about doing some ag work in 04/05 so i missed out on all the startup benefits! i havent used an accountant in the past due to it not being purely self employed, and it wasnt cost effective, does anyone else do their own tax?

I screwed myself this year on my tax return and am now going to go all out to reduce how much i have to pay next year, Is anyone aware of a good basic course to go on as i do all my own bookwork (going to buy the quickbooks software recommended in the other thead) I have just gone purely selfemployed and suddenly being hit with a tax bill that was about 6 times more than i was expecting was quite a shock i am keen to become a bit more clued up on how to reduce my tax, any tips or techniques that others are useing would be greatly appreciated, i spoke to HMRC on friday about the possibility of spreading the payments, and they said i cant as i have money in longterm government savings account (!) so rather than help me starting out, they would rather hammer me, they mentioned about taking legal action if they didnt have the money buy then end of the month, which i cant understand as i only got the invoice on friday morning! (although i should have received it at the start of January! so im being penilised for their balls up I wonder if some of this is due to having a paid job with (get this!) a government agency, and being self employed so i seem to be in an abnormally high tax band for my income? I am going to pay it (but this wont happen again!) i am currenly thinking in need to set up my business better with an account specifically for the tax i know im going to have to pay so i dont get complacent about how much is in the main account! part of the reason of posting this is for anyone else about to go it alone, not getting in the same mess as me! how does everyone else deal with this?

use the picture function on the camera as the video options on them are shocking! if its the same as mine it will take a burst of three pics once a minute which are a lot clearer than the video, i also have mine wrapped in a £5 roll of camo tape just to break up the out line. if that fails try this bad boy! http://www.airpistol.co.uk/alarm_gun_tripwire_activated.htm at least they didnt get in! police recon round here they know whats in everyones sheds and just go back when they are after the specific tool or machine,

oh no not CAD i would use a GIS rather than CAD purely as it is better for data management and spatial analysis/information, i use mapinfo as a desktop mapping system (but has gone up in cost to about £1200) and for field mapping and surveys i use a mobilemapperCE with Digiterra software (which is gaining popularity pretty fast) this is a very accurate dgps with great mapping facilities on it, I have used lots of different software for mapping both desktop and field use (it currently makes up about 90% of my office job) I have attached a review i did of the field software, from GIS Profesisonal magazine (and yes that is me in the advert! ) if you want more info or advice on software and equipment PM me your info and i will get in touch but please dont use CAD, CEH GISpro.pdf

i have come off and gone under my quad! very bloody painful especially as i had to get back on it to ride back to the farm for help, i havent come of my three wheeler, but its interesting when you corner sharp chasing rabbits Matt, whats up with your house mates 400cc honda? something major?

my toys, honda ATC200 trike a beast pulls so many fence posts on the trailer and truely awesome on wet ground (will go over stuff you cant walk over!) unfortunatly i need to replace the drive shaft and havent had time in the last 12months the Quad is a trx250 recon, (high speed gear box) this will pull my 6*4 trailer heaped high with logs over some pretty serious terrain, i prefer the lighter/smaller models as the are lighter on the ground and also a lot easier to un bog yourself (its also great with the C-DAX fert unit with a 18m vari spread and i also have a 3m boom sprayer for it as well. Once you have one you will wonder how you coped before (i know i do)

you know when you get static and touch the person next to you to discharge it and shock them..... well I bet the pilot gets pi$$ed off with that game!

sordin do them but they are proper pricey (£250+per set ) and also thats only any use with a mobile phone, which is probably what most people will be using anyway, some of the areas i work in have no mobile cover, which is why we use two ways. (although the sordin BT ones do have the radio built in) my main concearn currently is how comfortable the cable from the ear peice to the two way will be? i suspect the two way will have to go in a back pocket else the cable will be in the way

do you know which base he flew from?

i have had my set for 3years now, used them for field work in the scottish highlands for 4months solid and they are still going strong (they are rechargable come with a charging stand), the company i just bought the defenders of on ebay sell loads of units motorola, kenwood etc, but they are so pricey, especially for an item that will only be used probably a hand full of times a year, although i hope the plug i am putting on to it will also allow me to conect my MP3 player to it as well. i have used the ear peice that was supplied with the radios under my ATV helmet, but it doesnt fit under ear defenders hence buying the sordin ones, I have my mobile with me all the time but 99% of the time dont hear it, even when its on vibrate

does anyone here use two ways for work? either working a distance a part, or climber to ground staff? i have just got a set of sordin defenders with built in comms new off ebay which im changing the plug on to conect to my £20 binatone two ways (1.5km range realistically), I do quite a lot of work with a chainsaw around the farm and dont always have someone with me, so the use of a two way is a real peice of mind, as there is 99% of the time someone in the house that can use the other if we need to contact each other, these two ways also have a radio built in so i can listen to some tunes when im milling etc, but someone can still get my attention! I just wondered if anyone else had played about with this kind of set up, and how they had got on with it, and if anyones interested i will feed back how well it works as the total system has cost £55, (£20 more if i wanted another set of listen only peltors for a second helmet) so for well under £100 its possible to set two people up with a relatively cost effective communications system, we use kenwood two ways at the national park when we are airlifting, but they are only any good if A) you have your ear defenders off, B) the helicopter isnt near by, which means invariably you cant get hold of the person you want, and this is a situation where you really need to have good communitations (much like climber-gound staff) comments or feed back appreciated

with those figures of 1500euro a month at 5euros an hour on a 5day working week you want your staff to work a 15hr day?

so let me get this straight you bring the suitcase full of saw parts and climbing gear over here, and return back to the states with it full of special brew! how many suitcases you got?

then again if you had someone to buy it in the states and then they ship it as a gift so no extra tax! that would be really really good:wave:

i know, i keep looking on baileys, and then i think about customs picking it up and me getting stung an extra 20% plus shipping is now either really really slow (months) or really pricey but you get it in days, then again that 42" bar would prob cost close on a £100 over here,

cheers had me worried for a bit then, although i suspect i may have noticed if it didnt oil properly. Ive been using mine with a 36" bar and i think thats enough for me at the moment, mine has the full wrap handles and it weighs a ton with the 36inch on it, Hey Big A when are you going to get a sensible bar for you 090?

or was it the gas leaking from those cylinders making you act like that? sorry i'll stop taking the pi$$ now

I thought that was an auxilary oiler not manual?

what was the risk assesment like for operating a chainsaw near potentially damaged gas cylinders? i assume as it looks like the tree came over the cage, they all had to have the valves checked