scotspine1

Stick to the engineering mate, it's a proper job with real prospects.

not good. What you've done is akin to propping up a few sheets of ply on the beach to try and stop the japanese tsunami.

If ever there was an appropriate name for a street with a tree like that on it Risk Street sure fits the bill. Funnily enough when I was trying to figure out where it was that little pocket of Clydebank did spring to mind. Good luck with the job if you get it.

Looks like the tree has finally given up due to a restricted and compromised rooting zone. Personally I'd be recommending a fell to ground level as with that lean and general position of the tree pollarding is gonna look pathetic and will no doubt send the tree into complete and utter death.............stone dead. Where is that anyway Martyn? Bearsden?

I disagree Dean along with Will Self, Melvyn Bragg and David Starkey.....Tony Sorensen is the last of the truly great British intellectuals.

well done. seriously though, it's very easy for council employees/councillors to carry out the type of low level corruption/favouritism being discussed in this thread, they mostly get away with it because it doesn't exactly fall within the realms of out and out illegality. Also they'd have to be incredibly stupid to get caught so it's not really heard about or reported on widely in the media. There are however some very serious cases that occasionally come to light. BBC News - Edinburgh Council workers suspended over fraud inquiry .

your obsession with denouncing conspiracy theorists is clouding your thoughts Tony if people are hardwired to detect anything it's wether something is reasonable or not and in the case of the original poster he correctly detected an unreasonable decision by his local authority.

Your right Dean, the corruption in local government is well known, anyone who denies it is living in cloud cuckoo land. The corruption got a lot worse with the shrinking of the British Empire when tens of thousands of bureaucrats who were used to ordering the natives about came home to Britain and got jobs within local government and the civil service where they then proceeded to create cliques and 'jobs for the boys' networks to order British people around just as they'd done to the indigenous populations in India and Africa. This left a legacy of corruption being the norm in local government and the civil service that carries on to this day. .

One of the most remote places for a climb in Argyll or Scotland for that matter is the Paps of Jura. There not munros but who cares they're far more interesting than most munros. You'll need a weekend - head to Kennacraig on Kintyre, get the ferry to Islay then a short ferry to Jura. You can leave your motor in Kennacraig and hire bikes on Islay. Although you'll be climbing on Jura, Islay would be better to stay on overnight in a B and B or camping. If your on Islay, check out the beaches on the Rhinns west coast, Saligo, Lossit and Kilchoman. You really need good weather though for both places, the weather can close in fast on the Paps of Jura, we once went up on a beautiful sunny day/mid summer, and from nowhere this weather front came in from the Atlantic and sent down thunder and lightning when we were right at the top of one of them.....survived to tell the tale though ....just. first pic Jura, 2nd pic is Kilchoman Bay on Islay's west coast.

The winds that hit Scotland in the first week of January were the strongest since 1998, huge amount of tree damage everywhere. We had 2 full months of work from the storms. Benmore is a nice place for a visit. must've come down with some force that one

Heard about a father and son climbing team who maintained these turbines, they were inspecting the inside of a very tall one and the son fell to his death whilst the father and an uncle looked on.

just out of interest, the new Defenders being made just now, where are the engines from? is it a modified Freelander 2 engine? wherever it comes from how is the 2.2 working out for people?

Great idea Peter, good luck with it. If you ever fit a highsided one to a Nissan D22 King Cab let me know as I'd like to see how it works out. Could be handy for chipping into on the odd small job here and there.

not bad eh.

Contrary to what people may think there is, and has always been a healthy rowing presence on the Clyde. 3 boathouses, Glasgow Rowing Club, Clydesdale and Glasgow Uni. That protester guy was a clown. Rowing on the Clyde 1950s and today

Lee, been following Amadou and Mariam for years, seen them live in Glasgow, you ever heard Dougou Badia? listen to this loud and from the start checkout when Mariam drops out at 1.00 and Santigold comes in on vocals, it's feckin spellbinding mate - one of their best ever tunes [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfJ-EmoQil8]Amadou & Mariam - Dougou Badia (Feat. Santigold) - YouTube[/ame]

In 1968 Jimmy Page asked Terry Reid if he wanted to be the singer in a new project he was getting together, The New Yardbirds, Terry said sorry but he couldn't due to tour commitments with Eric Clapton's Cream in the USA. Terry suggested Robert Plant to Jimmy Page, Jimmy then found Robert Plant and the band came to be known as Led Zeppelin To get a flavour of what Led Zeppelin could've sounded like with Reid singing check the vid from around 2.19 - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=updTFU9IqIg&feature=related]Terry Reid - Dean Live - YouTube[/ame]

the winstons - this is from 1969 - listen from around 1.20, the drum solo starts at 1.26. In that drum solo you will find one bar (the last one) that is responsible for the entire genre of music that is jungle/drum and bass. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxZuq57_bYM]The Winstons - Amen Brother - YouTube[/ame]

G Class Mercedes are as good as Defenders, probably better in some ways but stupidly overpriced. watch this vid from 1.15 for the g wagon then again from 3.20 for the defender - [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGgyWoE0FR4&feature=related]mercedes G VS land rover defender 110 - Valdisere - YouTube[/ame]

The name Magnum was introduced by Stihl in America to capitalise on the Clint Eastwood Dirty Harry films, it's an American thing.

play guitar/bass and write tunes most monday nights in a studio in town - no gigging though, those days are long gone. here's a tune we recorded in my brother in law's garage. Black Sunsets by esqueleto on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

Good to hear, the problem with the chipper idea is your committing your cash without any idea of how you'll get a good return for your investment. The worrying thing is there's people out there with money (ex-military or a sudden inheritance for example) who if badly advised could lose it all trying to buy their way into the industry. If you want to invest, invest slowly once you have gained experience and created a network of good associates within the industry.

Actually Robert your right, it wasn't a panic fuel queue afterall, I lied - it was the line for the annual West Lothian dogging festival

no, cause that's my silver Daewoo Matiz last in the queue, after waiting for half an hour, I topped it up with £11.47 quids worth, filled it right to the brim as well. I do all my hedgework in that car, all the clippings from the day go in the boot.

Sheep unite!