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Ty Korrigan

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Everything posted by Ty Korrigan

  1. To rent in France can be a shit. You need a French bank account to be able to take out a rental contract. To get a bank account you need a French address and so the paperwork chase goes round and round... Almost always unfurnished too which is another expense and encumbrance. I rarely see 'Rooms to let' although climbers who came and worked for us, I found a local mature lady who rented a room and provided an evening meal. There are also workers 'hostels' which are good, clean, basic places. Our local one is around €25 per room per night. Best of luck 'n' all Stuart
  2. I'm not fighting a big bearded kraut, not even from behind my armoured keyboard... You look too much like Krampus... Stuart
  3. Do you actually log the hours and fuel purchases in a wee black book. I have paper proof of my expenses. (Married an accountant) Globally, I consider it to be small beer. Stuart
  4. Just to add my pennyworth. I've kept a record, from new of hours and fuel bought. Chipper is a GM150P 37hp efi The average fuel consumption is 4.5litres per hour. Perhaps 1litre above the 33hp turbo deezle Quadchip. The average cost per day, 1hr chipping, is around €2 more than using white deezle. I can't stock red as I have no yard and operate from a small garage at home. Besides, French red stinks like a sulphurous volcano's fart and I am 100m from a petrol station. Stuart
  5. Does seem pretty slow, I used a non feed lumag recently and it seemed to chip much faster than that. A 14hp CS100 positively rips stuff from your hands. An 18hp is like feeding a starved pitbull with Vespasians still warm corpse. Stuart
  6. Do you have any info on this accident? Stuart
  7. I doubt it if U.K manufacturers wish to sell to the E.U then they need to produce machines which conform to E.U regs. No point in creating an entirely seperate model spec for U.K Stuart (Except France which requires an extra stop button not fitted to the U.K spec machine I imported. Still rectified by fitting an inexpensive stop button)
  8. Reminds me... We once removed a bog standard 2m x 1.5m x 25m conifer hedge. Client well happy with the price and sent back the quote signed 'bon pour accord, lu et apprové, which isba formality here. Yet, client calls up in the evening after the job "where are my logs?" He also expected me, me alone, to be there several days, a week almost. Probably had visions of me shoving twigs into a Bosch 3kv shredderette. True, I never mentioned the size of my chipper or that I even had a truck or employees as all the client saw was my family car when I quoted. Client now felt abused, made itvquite clear, no logs and a grand or so for a days work, outrageous! I'm not at fault here at all, signed quote was quite clear, no mention of logs, that was a construct of the clients imagination. Still, to pour oil over these troubled waters and not without a little mischief in mind, I told him I'd deliver a few loads of logs when passing. And so one day some time after I filled his driveway over the course of a day with free wood. That stowed his gob and made me laugh 3 years down the line when I did his neighbours trees in 2017 and saw the same rounds of organic tree wood ranged along his drive and as far as I could see apart from being stacked otherwise untouched. Stuart
  9. Bugnot and Rabaud. Negri do a 14hp single roller feed too. Stuart
  10. This is our everyday rope which serves for most lighter duties. https://www.honeybros.com/Item/Teufelberger_Sirius_12mm_Rigging_Rope
  11. It is 'good' to see I am not alone with my awfull experience with flu. Yes, it has always pissed me off when people take time off with a cold claiming it to be flu. I'm back working but only half days. Every boss I ever had prophesied that was all I was good for... Stuart
  12. I managed 2 hours climbing yesterday and 2 behind a grinder today. After each I spent the afternoon on the couch asleep. This is what I imagine being over 80 to be like... Stuart
  13. He's taking the piss dear boy... Stuart
  14. Yes, I had glandular fever at 18. 2 weeks off work with that. Stuart
  15. Has anyone had this? Not 'man flu' or the 24hr chill I have often had most years nor is this a heavy cold. I last had real flu over 25 years ago. I screwed me up for a couple of weeks then. I've now been housebound for 6 days, much spent sleeping through fever, aches, cramps, repeat fever, sweated through bedclothes... Now I'm feeling more lucid but very weak. Mrs Lee has it too though her symptoms are less. I tried to change an angry toddlers nappy earlier. I lay down after, heart racing, muscles aching and felt I'll never lift a saw again. Unless I experience a miraculous recovery I can see next week being written off too. I understand now just how olders might be carried away by flu. It is quite horrible, very serious and debilitating. Next year I'll organise a vaccination for my wife and I. Only upside is that this week of illness coincided with some terrible weather and my climber got a rest and a chance to work on his renovation. No clients have been lost either which is considerate of them. Stuart
  16. When I talk to others in this industry, often I am told "oh I run my own arb company" or their FB profile states Owner or Director at treecutting company. To be clear, a company is a legal entity in itself. A major difference between a limited company and a sole trader is that alimited company is a separate legal entity to its shareholders and directors. ... This creates a clear distinction between your home life and your business, which helps to reduce the financial risk to any individuals involved with the company I may be seen here as just being pedantic but claiming you are a company when you are merely a sole trader is indicative either of having Walter Mitty syndrome or having insufficient* understanding of business in the first place. (*does not mean you do not know your job, just that you do not fully understand the terms of 'business') Stuart
  17. Here is one of his compositions I recently found out about:
  18. Then you want to ask here what she was doing in Surrey and check her bank card statements... Stuart
  19. I've found more painfull videos of this machine on French Youtube pages... Stuart
  20. I left out feeding them. My employees 'pannier' allowance ran to around 3k EACH. Officially I only need to have fed them after a certain distance from base but hey, that is generally accepted as just getting complicated so it is often a sit down 3-4 course with drinks most days. TBH, not entirely unwelcome either... Stuart
  21. Now I am back on my feet after the liquidation of my Ltd company, I once again turn my thoughts to expanding my empire. However, a chill runs through my bones at the thought of employing some-one. Here, in a country where employees have all the rights and even the Arc de Triomphe is not safe from vandalism by the angry masses the tax burden is at an all time high of 55.7% recuperated by the state. Officially, an employee on the SMIC or minimum wage would cost me only 12.50euros per hour net for the wage element but once you climb up the wage scale the social charges levied on the employeur reach an eyewatering 66% up from around 48% 2 years ago. Once you have taken an employees share of the fixed costs, tools, training, breakages, extra insurances, average sick days into account (Employeurs are to pay instead of the state) wasted time per hour (smokers, smartphone addicts and those who work less effectively without constant supervision) the actual cost is around 3 times the salary. This effectively means that for small businesses on low margins, the boss is often just working to support the business and employee. Larger businesses being better insulated by state aid and incentives. Letting an employee go exposes the employeur to punative charges. I've looked at running a co-op style of arb business but this requires a minimum of 7 which represents at least 500k turnover. Ooooh, I've given myself a headache thinking about it all... Stuart
  22. That is all I basically have as my main weaponry. My subbies bring the big guns with them. Although I'm due to treat myself to a wee Echo with a Spud tune. Stuart
  23. O.K, ordered the 5.5t springs over the other choice of coil helper springs. Now to replace the shocks. Where to look for heavy duty shocks? Any leads? Stuart
  24. Bit daft really, 3/8 chain and 5.2mm file. I had a boss once who would say, "fetch me 2m of 4" by 2" " Straddling the Imperial and metric worlds... Why are chains not metric damn it? Stuart
  25. I was taught this at Merrist Wood. I don't always practice it mind. I often file the tie strap but have yet to break a chain. Stuart

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