Taupotreeman

Yum. Lunch!

Couldn't even listen to it. Got a few seconds in and my ears started to bleed.

I'd be in for a calender. Still waiting to see if the T shirts idea is a goer too.

Sorry to hear that, hope the insurance covers it at least. Can think of plenty of names I'd like to call these people, all of which would get me booted of the site. Maybe we should start cutting a few hands off.

Now that I'd like to see. You may not get your money but boy you wouldn't half feel better. Reckon it would be worth writing off a smallish debt just to see the look on their faces. Similarly, a guy here got peeved with some new government law regarding farming (think it was the cow fart tax or something like that) so he fired up the muck spreader outside one of the government houses. Covered the whole front and steps in the brown smelly stuff. It all ended up in court but I bet he felt tops straight after.

One of the only things from the UK that I actually miss. Beautiful place.

Was nowt but a spare bit of pull cord when I was training. Has the advantage of being able to be used as er, well, pull cord in an emergency.

Welcome welcome.

Me too. Interesting that something we don't know suddenly makes us oh so nosey.

Never mind the tree, what size is that saw? It looks like a beast. You must have arms the size of tree trunks, especially swinging it around one handed.

Reckon some of you fellas on here should get together, pick out the best photos and publish one of those fancy arty books. Reckon you'd make a small fortune with it.

I worked in Wales for two and half years. Can't remember one dry day

I only climb on one rope unless I'm doing a big tree and I need a second for ease of positioning but I do use a side strop as a second anchor. Same as Rupe; I'm the boss so I do as I need within reason.

Are they rain clouds? In Wales? Nice view though.

There's a local guy here who just asks the price of the other quotes when he talks to the customer and undercuts the lowest price regardless of if he'll take a loss on the job. I think the basic idea is that he will increase his customer base and then slowly increase the prices again. It doesn't always work obviously as there is the danger that the customer will move to another outfit once you put your prices up but what I've found in general is that the customer gereally (at least around here) won't bother getting other quotes if they have a supplier they have used for years. This can end up costing the customer way more in the long run but they don't seem to care. No point dropping your prices (if your prices are competative) to match someone else. It's a quick way to go under.

Ahhh. Wouldn't have thought this thread would have been one that could encourage a reply you could be banned for. Obviously I'm wrong.

Is that banned as in well, banned?

Nice! Toast and tea all over the keyboard now thanks Hama.

Of no help whatsoever I'm afraid but doesn't this stuff really REALLY naff you off? I mean, you've done the work and now you have to chase. It wouldn't be so bad if people could be bothered to let you know what was going on so that at least you could budget.

The best of days.

In that case I reckon you best bet is to try and get the boss to allow you to have some down time to bring all the groundies up to spec. Treescape and Asplundh both have 6 monthly safety days. Aerial rescue from the tree manually and also bucket rescues are practised along with a first aid refresher. Asplundh particularly expects you to practice both once a week and sign a form to say you have done so. If you are meeting your targets I see no reason why the boss would say no. You can also point out it will give his groundies a bit more experience should he need them to tackle a bigger job one day. It only takes one or two hours a week to get the guys used to what is needed and in to a routine. If you set the access lines up for them you've done the hard part.

Had a lot to do with safety at the last outfit I worked for and on all the bigger jobs we tried to get a competent groundy along with the main climber but very rarely did I see an access line up a tree for speed. Now I work for myself and, because needs must, I work by myself a lot of the time there's no one to rescue me anyway should things turn to custard. Not great I know but that's the decision I've made short term. You're basically between a rock and hard place. You could approach the department of labour but don't expect any back up from them until things actually do go wrong. They have said to me that they can't do anything until there is an accident. More like they can't be bothered (but that's a whole other story). I reckon your best option apart from refusing to do the work, is to tell the boss you'd like a fully competant climber for the jobs you're not comfortable with. Basically set yourself a limit of what you are happy to do with a half pie climber on the floor. And always stick up an access line and have set of sharp spikes available on anything that's even remotely iffy. Even better if you can talk the boss in to giving you a couple of hours each week to practice rescues until you're confident your groundy can do the job. You probably know as well as I do that if you go to the boss all guns blazing you'll be out on your ear and fat chance the employment courts will do much on your behalf. It will probably boil down to how good a bloke the gaffer is. Oh. and I have never known any company be all about health and safety when profit margins are tight. Heard that all before but safety usually comes down the pecking order behing profit and productivity. Or to get cheap ACC premiums (which ACC push hard even though they know they are being screwed by the big outfits).

Might get some sideways glances for this one but having grown up with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings it wa great to see that trilogy finally given the decent film treatment it deserved. It also gave me another excuse to ogle Liv Tyler And, I also loved the new Star Trek and the Indiana Jones. I also agree that Leon and Ronin were choice films and that Jean Reno is an underated actor.

Family ties initially stopped my dad from wanting to emigrate to NZ but when he realised that he was a) putting everyone elses wants and needs before his own and b) that they are only a phone call, flight or, these days, skype call away, he decided that he'd do what he wanted. Think of it this way too. If you emigrated you could give the family a really good holiday in a place they might not normally go to.