onetruth

I'm guessing the faff of having to comply with the regs. Isn't admin the most boring part of the job? @forestboy1978 I wouldn't be offended, just say no. You might know the ins and outs of your business, but the customer wont. No need to explain it to them either - you'll probably still get the job and at the price you quoted for.

I haven't, but I know that a fairly gentle knock can wreck an lxt battery, so I wouldn't want it swinging about on a strop. I reckon it would be a more useful tool if they put the handle on the back and the batteries on the top.

I'm not saying there isn't a legal owner, but it does sound like nobody knows who owns it, or cares. My point was that if your client confirms ownership in writing, you'd be on pretty safe ground unless you could reasonably be expected to believe differently. The pine felling incident sounds strange: "costs of action exceeded the value of the trees" - that seems unlikely, and is no bar to litigation. "Appear" and "assume" aren't dodgy. When I work in someone's garden for them, I don't ask for ID then check with the land registry that they are the legal owner first. If there are genuinely unclaimed, nuisance trees that need working doing to them, what is the alternative? Based on what the op described, I'd say he was 99.99% safe to do the work without anyone batting an eyelid. That remaining 0.01% is his client's worry.

I've never tried this, so I might be talking out of my arse... I understood that, with monkey puzzles, any cutting (except perhaps from the main, apical growth) would produce a spreading plant without discernible upright growth. I have seen a few grown from laterals - they sort of creep. My inference was that you can't propagate a tree from a vegetative cutting without taking the top from an existing tree (thus ruining its development, and only being able to produce one further tree). Am I wrong about this? Btw: the slow growth rate is only when they are young. After a few years they are actually quite vigorous. Edit: sorry, on reading your op more carefully, I see you already knew all this. good luck!

I'm a bit late in replying, but based on what you've said about your current knowledge and experience, and your ability to formulate and punctuate a sentence, I'd say you were more than capable of going straight in at level 3! You'll do well.

john - I don't know if you can amend the questionnaire easily, but a couple of suggestions... q2,q6,q7 - add a don't know/depends option q3 - volume or mass: huge difference if, like me, you don't usually chip. edit: to clarify - I take most of my green bits to the local skip hire place. they segregate green waste but no idea what they actually do with it, tbh. I pay them to take it off my hands. I don't know if this is a "tree hub" - I suspect not, as not a co-op. also, might be useful for your research to gather location data alongside the other info.

I disagree with all of the above replies, but I am not a lawyer! There are plenty of bits of land that appear to have no owner. If it is likely to be council land (or, less likely, common land), I think if you were to enquire with the LPA (for TPO/CA purposes), and have an email from the client saying she owns it, you would be pretty safe from any comeback. You were acting as her agent, under her instruction. I base this on the asumption that no one seems to take an interest in the land, and that there is no obvious reason to asume that someone else owns it. I often see similar situations on the edge of housing developments or in areas between back garden fences and playing fields, for instance. In such circumstances, nobody wants to take responsibility, and nobody cares. The Trafalgar square point above is valid. But then again, who here actually insists on proof of ownership and identification from a potential customer each time they're called out to do a bit of garden work? Nobody who's still in business, that's for sure! Answering the door doesn't prove they own the property. If you get the email, if there's no good reason to suspect otherwise, you've done your due diligence.

Having watched your revenge porn and seen the dispassion following your final strike, I concur that you are indeed a total bastard. Congratulations! Edit: I think I got a stike once in my life, and felt guilty about it for weeks.

Presumably the "expert pack" comes with a coffin?

Never used any of the fancy ones mentioned above. For years I just went for whatever was on special offer at the supermarket - Mach 3 being by far the most comfortable and long lasting imo. Last year or so, I've just started using the electric hair clippers once a fortnight. Finally, at 38 years old, my face has a respectable coverage of active follicles. I feel utterly cheated in life that my first beard came out grey.

photographic evidence unnecessary. a gentleman never shares.

I was referring to the half hour before commencement, not completion! In all honesty, I can't remember how it ended.

The most exciting moment of my life was probably the half hour before I lost my virginity. Like so many firsts, the anticipation far exceeded the experience itself.

I might be in the market for a new barrow, and £120 is only twice my budget! Why do you like that belle one so much? I don't really have the experience with barrows to know what to look for, just that some I like, and some are worse than carrying the stuff in a rucksack. The woodland where I volunteer has just acquired a new arbor-trolley, which may end up being "stored" in the back of my truck. Just bragging.

Disclaimer - I don't know about the particular tree at the centre of this discussion, and have no real interest in finding out. It is true, however, that many claims of trees being especially old prove to be wildly inaccurate when they are eventually measured. This happens for many reasons, most notably, making a good headline (in the loosest sense of the word). I suspect our really old yews are pretty old, but relying on continuity of historical accounts of "a tree" is pretty shaky evidence imo. Also, regarding David Bellamy, if I recall correctly, my dad worked with him, and testified that he is indeed a "bit of a bullshitter".

mid morning matters (alan partridge) is fairly recent and very funny. the trip is good. first few series of peep show were brilliant. anything with mark heap in is probably going to raise a smile. I think nowadays comedy is much more niche - everyone liked fawlty towers but modern stuff (which personally I think can be much better) is more dependant on individual taste. I think stewart lee is the funniest comedian around, but my wife loathes him. horrible histories is probably my favourite comedy show of all time. it's not the funniest (but is very funny), but anyone aged 8+ will get most of the jokes, and it's brilliantly done. I remember weeing myself with laughter at a particular mary whitehouse experience sketch when I was about 12. most of the best british stuff originates on radio 4. last year a customer thought I was having a heart-attack because I had the news quiz on my earphones while snedding and miles jupp sent me into convulsions.

I had a good look at that too but decided it was probably too fragile to be chucked in the back of the van. I use the reciprocating saw for cutting roots. The batteries only last 10 minutes when doing that, but it's usually enough for winching out small stumps. That barrow looks like it would be a net cost in terms of effort!

That's about £770? Does seem excessive. From the photos, I'd guess around £200 to get it on the ground. Get more quotes, simple as that.

Except that she wasn't doing that. It was in the aftermath of the Prince Harry Nazi-uniform scandal. She (stupidly) chose to hypothesise on live TV when the question was posed, she wasn't making a political point. As I said earlier, she doesn't interview well; it was gaff, but she's no Maoist.

Really nice looking machine (and platter, btw). Have you made it variable speed? That sounds scary. Should be a good test for the castors! Edit: I looked at the facebook pics - very impressive work. The outboard rig looks awesome. Did you have to machine a new spindle for it? Good opportunity for a more standard thread pitch, I suppose, but that must have been so much work. Not sure about the colour. Couldn't you source any pink?

been taken down now. maybe someone got a bargain.

I don't have much experience with stoves, but if you've got a flue with an additional internal wall (most have), the outside will be much cooler than the inside, so it's probably not as efficient as it seems. As for where you draw the air from, I've never seen stoves that draw in their own air from outside. It sounds like an expensive installation and I can't imagine it would bring much benefit (not in our climate anyway). I'd expect a very slight efficiency boost by using room-temperature air instead of cold air, but you should get your secondary burn whichever way. You could always open a window for a bit if it gets too stuffy!

I know the interview you are talking about, it wasn't recent - it was about 10 years ago. What she actually said was "some people will judge that on balance Chairman Mao did more good than harm", which is very different. Also, the context was "why do some people think it is ok to wear a Mao t-shirt but not a Hitler t-shirt". When you ignore context and edit out parts of the sentence you are quoting you are can make anyone say anything...

Thanks, Steve. I think it was Bryant Kesek (or something similar) that I was with when I first started. I remember now that I wanted to go with Bartlett but they wouldn't insure sole traders for the first two years of trading, or something like that. At the time they and NFU were the only people I could find who'd offer PL/EL for tree work. I might have overlooked Trust, or maybe they didn't exist back then? Given the good opinions of them expressed here, I'll probably see what they offer next time round.

I think I use Bartlett, and I think I used to use Arborisk (advert on the right hand side). As above, I've never had to make a claim, but it's been a fairly painless experience getting cover sorted. I use tradedirect.co.uk (Zurich) for tool cover, mainly because they cover tools left in a vehicle or shed, or if you drop a saw from a tree. Premiums have shot up hugely over the last couple of years, though. I think £5k cover costs about £200 depending on the excess. Again, never had to claim so can't really comment about what is, after all, the most important thing an insurer will do for you.