Ty Korrigan

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What next? Will Stihl require us to hand over used chains before selling us new? Was this policy dreamed up by the same Frenchman who built the Maginot line? People WILL find away around this... I work and live abroad and so order my equipment from the U.K as my local dealers are 'exhorbitant' for parts as well as not at all pro-active in ordering them. I want to choose who I deal with NOT be dictated too by the very people who should be rewarding me for being product loyal.

Your right, the language can only be learned through total immersion. On the job, in the Saturday market and at soirees with neighbours. I personally find French telly is utter shoite other than factual stuff and so when I come home it is U.K t.v I watch. I thought I'd integrate better trying to watch it and it would help me learn French but I simply found it dull and hard work trying to concentrate when I should have been relaxing. You will find though, most professionals like accountants and doctors can speak English but simply are too ashamed of making schoolboy errors to try.

I'm gurning in the front row, unable to stand and face deformed with the pain of so many lacerations from hawthorn and blackthorn PLUS... As I was working away for the weekend I accepted a beer which went straight to my head. A very rewarding and moving experience to walk upon ground that saw a man per m2 fall in battle. I still feel tremors when I think of that crater filled with bodies rolled into it after the battle. As for the Lochnagar group themselves... I have never met such energy and devotion from volounteers to preserving a site which to some is a mere a 'vestige' suitable only for landfill. But to those from the Allied and Commonwealth who actually studied a little WW1 is a sacred site, pure hallowed ground. ATTENTION! Lochnagar is suffering from an invasion of rabbits which are causing the sides of the crater and remaining shell holes to slip. If any-one out there has the knowledge and equipment to deal with this problem then PLEASE contact Lochnagar. I for one will be back as there is still scrub to clear, nettles to bash and roots to poison. I would grind BUT... There are still bodies and live munitions under there and VERY close to the surface. I'll write more later. Ty

Your right and my grasp of international financial law is slim BUT... I do have my own tame international financial lawyer on hand to pose questions too. Although, I'll give him the night off and concede I know nothing after all...hhh:001_tongue: Regards

Ah, nowadays, your 'trimestre' worked are counted towards your U.K state pension in some cross border agreement. So when you retire at 60 in France, you draw what seems to be a tiny pension but then you can also draw your pro-rata U.K pension when you reach 90 or not draw a French pension and wait until you reach U.K retirement age at 75... or will it be 80? You can also contribute to your U.K pension whilst working overseas which is a good idea as it only costs around £650 for a years contributions. Also you can buy back lost years when (if) you return to the U.K. Also, as a self employed person here you will pay into the French pension regardless unless you elect to be a cotisante solidaire and stay under the 8k threshold. As ever, don't take my word as gospel please but get serious up to date advice from a 'French' accountant who speaks English and is used to dealing with the MSA.

Hello, Good post at last, it's been a while. About Cotissante de Solidaritie, it costs an additional 350euros a year which includes health insurance for whilst you are at work NOT at home. So if you have a work based accident your fine but a home cardiac then you must finance your own health care unless you are with the CMU which is the states health scheme for poor folk. You pay your (tax) social charges once a year but are limited to less than 8k turnover. It's really for very part-time or retired folk who wish to continue working in a limited way. I did this for a year myself in 2004. Regards

Recently, I have been hiring a bobcat on tracks with a stone burier attachment for doing lawns. Personally, I find it overweight and a bit numb with a tendance to rip up surfaces. I'd prefer a tractor around 25+hp and 4wd. Something we can put a loader on, run a log splitter, rotovator and a 88 anti-aircraft gun just for kicks. I've seen a new Kubota 4wd with manual transmission for 10k euros + vat Lots of questions going through my mind... Hydro versus manual transmission for example. Buy used or new...? Are those Chinese and Indian imports more trouble than they are worth? Please, share your experiences, I'm all ears!

And likely to remain so with those hours...hhh!

Evening, Are you not all bigging up the risk here? I mean, climber of 65kg with 6kg of kit could take off the crown with a silky without stressing the tree as the windage would be a higher loading factor than a wee man and a saw. Chog down the rest onto a mattress of branches even slicing the stem into wee thin rounds so no need to add armour plating. That tree, I'd charge 1200euros here in the same circumstances. Regards

I have used a short wheelbase with a full chip box and a long wheelbase with a MEWP. Both for me had awfull driving positions and a bouncy ride that left me feeling weary. Also...utter pants near anything slippery. Our Iveco has a lovely ride, better than our Navarra in fact but less pants off road than the Cabstar was. Next time, an Iveco with difflock option and knarly tyres.

Talking like a real poikey... Nicking stuff.

Morning, I remember it well but who still does? With tips charging for waste here and burning forbidden all year round (although many still do on the fly) We've just done a large macro removal and stump, a day for 3. All branches chipped up to 6" so that was all the green. One and half tippers worth of logs. The client 'told' us he thought it would be cheaper and simpler to stack the brash in a trailer and take it to the tip and had previously almost insisted we do so 'bizzare'... We of course ignored him then just to make sure turned up on a day we knew he wasn't around to advise further. (I love it when clients know best...) But, it got me thinking, if I had no chipper at all, just how much longer would the job have taken me? AND at 12euros per m2 what tip fee would I have been looking at BLERK! It's one thing to 'rasher down' as Sanglier say's a birch or small tree into your tipper with a saw but imagine any gurt coni take down. Are we looking at 4 times the mass before chipping or more? As it was there where 4 tipper loads so 5-6 ton. PLUS the logs which went to a good home. Regards

Your choice of underwear is not visible, please keep it that way:laugh1:

Now I do recall, the truck, a 2007 ex leasing we bought last Sept had already a recent diff change. It is still under warranty...perhaps. I'll ask my man about adjustment of pinions. The smell has been slowly getting worse. There has been a light smell for weeks once hot. Regards

I can't help noticing that you are wearing a pair Claret Corduroy trousers in your avatar. Surely these clash mightly with your corporate colour scheme of yellow? Besides, they were so 'last season', please keep up with trends if your going to post on Arbtalk.

Don't you have 'travellers' in Holland? If you do, then one Monday morning you may find yourself with nothing more than the blunt toothless silky you keep in the door pocket and faced with a 30m stem to chog down...hhh:biggrin:

Cheers Lads, I've emailed the mobile mechanic tonight. Regards

Hello, The diff on our Iveco Daily tipper gets well hot when the truck is loaded. To the point that today when shifting soil (over loaded) with it, the diff was VERY hot but touchable just and I could see light grey smoke and smell burning oil. What's up with it? Do diffs get this hot normally? Regards

Well, So far, I've not lost a job in a year due to not being able to access with the quad and I've not had any miserably unviable drags to contend with either. I also don't envisage I will lose any significant work from not owning a wee chipper anymore either as I would just price it accordingly. So in my book my CS100 would have earned me zilch and rusted slightly for a year. Shame, because I was very attached to the wee chipper but I can't have it all... Last week I met a guy on a job locally who was filling up skips with branches as he reckoned that was cheaper than using a chipper! 80 for the skip and 80 for the fill. Each to his own...

Moroccan Thuya is not the same though, that really confused me for a while. Heavy dense wood full of burls but smells the same.

Pitching a Deal on Pine Parquet...hhh! As funny as I get these days.

I totally agree with that. We now run a quadchip thanks to the money generated by a CS100 which I sold for £620 less than I paid for it after 230hours use. I couldn't face going back to using one full time though, it would certainly kill me with the effort! Regards

Is 'deal' also the same stuff? I imagine that a conifer that grows in colder or even drier climates has a closer grain and a denser structure. My wifes home town of Essouira in Morocco is surrounded by Tetraclinus trees, known also as Thuya. They look like scabby Italien cypressus but because they grow in semi-arid conditions their wood is close grained and hard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraclinis Regards