Ty Korrigan

Budget plays and important role in my choice of truck as does the regulations regarding parking at home as I don't have a yard. Also, I live just outside a low emissions zone starting in 2025 so no point buying an older truck. I'm really a very small low turnover domestic tree surgeon with no ambitions greater than employing a climber as I age. Yes, Iveco, very nice, very expensive too, thing is, being in France the smaller trucks above 3.5t to 7.5t very rare as there was no 7.5t licence unlike UK. Used ones, hens teeth.

Hello, Does anyone run one of these? I've a quote for a Canter 7.5t chassis without tipping unit but the Fuso/Canter dealers I've contacted won't sent me anything for their 5/6t trucks. I could walk into a Canter, Fuso, Volkswagen, Ford dealer and buy a 3.5t tomorrow but before I commit to years of running overweight I want to see what is out there first. A 5t would solve most of my daily weight issues. Cheers

You recall Brexit? The loss of the automatic right to live and work in the 27 member countries of the E.U? I run a small FB group for French expat arb types and we've not known another tree surgeon turn up in France since Brexit. Good luck with your visa application.

It is the dust and debris that falls through the roller box. It doesn't interfere with the functioning in any way, it's just a shit to remove caught as it is on the pipes and chassis.

Things to like over the 150 range. Wide in feed hopper Horizontal rollers Thicker (or better quality) steel that does not deform especially the base of the in feed. Better access to blades. Indeed hopper folds almost completely enclosing the infeed and can be locked with a wee Abus U lock when chawing down on a lunchtime McMerde burger. Enough room in there for a blower and bag. Fuel and hydraulic tanks set low so less sway and bounce en route. Tanks are opaque so no dodgy fuel gauges required. Negatives (more observations really) Due to the position of the rollers and flywheel, I don't get two turns of the blades, only one. I honestly don't care. Surprised by the amount of debris collection points under 'the hood' on pipes and chassis. Can't make up my mind whether to leave it all to compost naturally or continue dislodging periodically with a pokey stick. Does it even matter? I'm not a fan of pressure washing machines.

I saved over€7k buying from the UK Yes, there is no back up from a French dealer but there again, buying in France doesn't give you anywhere near UK level after sales and any chipper requiring more than €7k worth of after sales in 3 years is going to be a lemon anyway. Worth the gamble IMO.

I ran the two together before I moved the 150 on and there is no significant measurable difference between the two although the Efi sounds more perky the Kubota has longer intervals in-between the no stress activating. Although I'd love a 205, it won't fit in my garage. I'd like to persuade GM to derestrict my engine now it's post warranty and take advantage of the full capacity of the engine but I'm not that fussed. Just content to enjoy the feeling you get from owning dependable equipment.

In the UK from GA Groundcare with the co-operation of GM HQ who added a few French touches like security bolts on the stop bar, a brash pusher and white flag because if I didn't say that some Pro-Brexit **** would... I'll message you about how to navigate the import/export.

After my own well documented experience with a GM150 Efi engined machine, I replaced it with an Evo165d and then slid off the radar because no news is good news. Solidly built and reliable. That is all any of us really want. I have had zero issues in just over 3 years and 320hours of use. I do my own basic servicing and blade changes and the machine is stored in the same warm dry garage. Stuart

How can there be less unless the xylem walls either shrink or empty and fill with air? In Spring wood appears wetter due to the hygroscopic pressure of sap rising thus creating the illusion of wetter wood.

I always thought that in Winter, the sap stops flowing but it is still there. The xylem doesn't close up nor fill with air. Therefore, the wood weight remains the same Summer or Winter. Happy to be proven wrong because then I would learn the facts. A quick glance at readily available info on Google only mentions cut wood and changes due to hygroscopic nature of cut lumber. Nothing about living wood.

Why would the wood have different weights depending on the season? (excluding leaf) I thought the moisture content remained stable Summer or Winter.

Well, now that is a project for me ..

Belay that question! I just found them at chainsawbars.co.uk

Hello, I have a question for the wise ones. Are any of the Stihl or Husqvarna bars compatible with the Echo 2511? SpeedCut Nano WWW.KOX24.FR cat_childs

Just got back from a month away. Opened the compost heap to throw in the contents of the fridge veg box and saw the level had dropped enormously. Obviously all the micro flora and fauna doing their stuff. Added some more egg boxes and cereal boxes and next week I'll add some grass, something I don't often do. Then fork it over.

David Hill is worth talking too. I forget his name on here. I'll message him.

Word is that back home in Liffré France our local Tabac had their storeroom raided to the tune of €40k. I wonder if at that sum their scratch cards went too.

The Co-op cheese thieves were just a comedy side show compared to my previous work before retraining. I was a manager of an outdoor retailer in a past life until 30 years old. Our performance related bonus was also aligned to shrinkage. We made daily stock checks on lines susceptible to theft but at times 1:3 people through the door could be shoplifters. Stock was put out in patterns of 3 or 5, easy to count or check visually. Often only the extreme sizes on display, harder to resell for thieves. Especially problematic was my own day off. I was studying the RHS certificate at Lackham so these days needed to be regular. The thieves worked out that when I was absent my staff were inattentive and so it was open season. I got blamed for this of course and bonus reduced. I abandoned my studies and suffered anxiety if absent from my store that became so bad I just didn't take my day off which contributed to further anxiety and depression. Not worth it for the miserable salary and fragile bonus conditions that the company would always find an excuse not to pay in full. Some thieves I caught, junkies all. Some I stopped at the door though this confrontational approach was dangerous. Junkies easily recognised by their smell, teeth, fingers and new clothes often married to shitty shoes. Can't easily steal a pair of shoes now can you? Junkies that entered the store I would follow and serve myself. Often they'd get the message and leave peacefully enough. We got 'steamed' a few times by gangs of thieves, again usually on my day off. Roma the police warned us not to try apprehending and certainly don't touch the woman! If cornered they would put their hands 'between their legs' and grab the hands or worse the face of the person who cornered them. Then once (if) arrested the Roma women would make a counter complaint of sexual assault which of course the police would be required to investigate. Not worth the trouble. Junkies too. I remember attending a line up at Bath police station. Half of those there I recognised apart from my particular junkie, the one I chased from my store into a restaurant back door by the Avon and who got caught by the kitchen staff. I couldn't pick the guy out of the lineup! 3 more months on remand, detoxed, clean shaven, well fed, nice clothes, unrecognisable...FFS! One particular pair of thieves were very professional. Not junkies but well dressed and spoken. It was several years before they were apprehended by chance in a store in Stratford upon Avon equipped with better cameras and store to store radios having been recognised by a staff member who was transferred and remembered serving the pair. Stuart

When I was waiting on my Merrist Wood course to start I worked evenings mostly as a supervisor at a local CO-OP. They have a non-interference policy that I just couldn't stick to. Once, a local junkie rocked up on a bike carrying a large stripey laundry bag and proceeded to empty all the cheese shelves. I watched until he dragged the bag out of the door before challenging him. He was so skinny and unfit he couldn't lift the bag he'd filled and was at a loss. I grabbed the bag and had 'To me to you' tussle before it split and he dropped it in the middle of the road blocking traffic. He ran for his bike, I grabbed his coat which slid off his underfed frame and coatless he rode off. Locals helped clear up the cheese and nothing more was done. Even when I caught staff stealing the Co-op's HR LGBTQ creature quizzed me and told me that before I arrived there was none of this trouble and I should not interfere as that was for security not a supervisor. Incensed, I ****************ed them over with a series of petty micro sabotage before leaving but that is best recounted over a beer. Stuart

Also, this hourly rate nonsense. Take two similarly equipped gardeners. Gardener A. Asks for £20 per hour and takes 8 hours to cut a hedge because he told the client it might take a day and besides he is being paid by the hour, bags himself £160 Gardener B. 'Quotes' £160 for a similar hedge, smashes it out in a morning, does another similar hedge in the afternoon and takes £320 for a day's work. This is because working to a quote is an incentive for productivity whilst a low hourly rate is merely a halfway step between being salaried and self employed.

That is not how it works, not at all. Imagine, you decide to be a taxi driver but only three times a week. Are you going to add a supplement to your fare because your taxi is idle the rest of the week and the finance and insurance needs paying?

And so it begins... I'm on holiday until the end of August and assume every other self respecting Frenchman is also on holiday too. Yet I just opened my Gmail to see 2 enquiries for hedge cutting to add to the SMS I received. No tree work though. I'm going to be strict with myself and turn down most hedges for all but my regular clients. I've no wish to fill my books with aching shoulders and days of seemingly endless raking up when there are always trees to be cut. Or to chew through a back log of 5 months worth of potential hedge clients caused by a misinterpretation of regulations aimed at farmers and annoying social media Eco-Karens punting their agenda whilst their cats continue to decimate the song bird population.

Why do people put "chipper £120/150? 6" machines cost very little to run per hour and often do under an hour per day on domestic work. I assume a 6" as it's the most common. Putting in £120 for what I assume is your own chipper would mean that over 180 days you'd be charging £21'600 Seems rather excessive Talking about knowing your costs here not about gross profit margins.

This misrepresentation of regulations is rife in France on both French and English speaking Facebook groups. Trying to discuss the subject produces angry responses and endless links to blogs and articles that just echo misinformation. Result has been that I have cut almost no hedges since March and then experienced an unwelcome rush of enquiries which I could not cater for before the 'cut off date' This also impacted heavily on enquiries for tree work resulting in an almost empty agenda by the time I stopped for the Summer in June 30th The jobs that WERE accepted being mostly for October onwards. I can bend with the wind as I don't generally work July and August anyway but to lose April, May, June in the event of future legislation would require some serious diversification or another income stream.