Rupe

Good post Adam. Much more positive than mine!!

The only advice you will get from an insurance company will be to give them 400 quid. Come on Josh you know that's bad advice. And I wouldn't involve HMRC until you have the work coming in either. Don't complicate things, get the work first. Even CS units are not essential, tree companies will employ you if your right for tree work and the rest will come. There's way too many people with CS units and no chance of surviving in the work place already, so if your one of those then give up, if not then carry on looking for employment.

Well it was very hot!!!! Completed my first Olympic distance triathlon on the hottest day of the year on a course with zero shade and at the hottest time of the day!! I completed in 2hrs 44minutes so the Brownlees have nothing to worry about! But everyone had slow times, the run was brutal with many people dropping out due to heat exhaustion. In my age group (40-44) I came 11th out of the 41 that finished and that was 49th out of the 199 that finished altogether, so that 24% in both, which is quite good I think! On top of the 199 finishers there were 33 that didnt either due to DQ or dropping out, thats the highest number of DNF I have seen. Even the good runners with PB's of around 40 minutes for 10K were taking over an hour for the 10k run, simply due to having to walk the first lap because of heat. There were lots of water stations and a lad with a hose pipe half way round and so those that made it that far then managed to run the rest but many gave up before that point. I somehow managed to trot round the first 5k and then picked up for the second half and did the run 58minutes, which would be embarrassing on any other day but it helped me finsh higher than some who would normally beat me.

All you need to be a sub contractor is to be able to carry out the task given to you quicker than the company thats giving you the work, otherwise they would just do it themselves. So if they price a three day job but sub it to someone who does it in 2 days then everyones happy. To achieve that you need 5+ years of full time experience. Your CS units remember are not qulaifications, they are safety certificates. Keep trying to get a job, freelancing or sub contracting is a long way off yet.

I'm looking for a suitable extra worker, hopefully regularly and maybe full time (not sure about that yet). Rather than define the work as groundie or climber etc. I would say that driving is the most useful qualification, with a trailer, so thats suitable license and experience required. Ex army welcome, especially with driving experience (dont need HGV but its a good skill to have) The rest is just hard worker needed to help with day to day tree work jobs, chainsaw tickets useful, an ambition to go further in tree work useful as well as it implies interest in the job. And I would hope that I can offer suitable training and experience to the right person and maybe some climbing here and there. Fully ticketed climbers welcome as well but I cant promise much climbing, this is best described as an assistants job, you will learn lots though! Driving is more important than climbing! Presentable and polite, and able to work under own initiative essential. Please pm me. Thanks.

The last time I had any money and sanity was when I freelancing!

Hmmm, just noticed your in Evesham! pm me some more details, mini cv etc. (if cheltenham is not too far) maybe some references but I promise I wont take any up if they are your current employers and you dont want to rock the boat just yet!!! And that PM, private message, I dont want to go into discussions here, thanks. But, the reality is its groundies Im short of, not climbers.

The key then is, do you think you can get minimum 3 days a week at that rate? Its ok to say thats what you would like to get, but getting it is a different story. Theres what you want/need to earn and theres what your worth x the amount of work available. The latter two need to add up to more then the first two!

By the way, 3 days a week at £150 equates to £22,500 a year for a 50 week year, so that must be similar or better to most employed positions? Or am I out of touch with what employed climbers make these days?

Basically you need to still be able to make the same money, plus any kit/expenditure in the number of days work you can get. So, if you can only get 3 days a week thats fine as long the pay is good enough so that is at least equal to what your on now. In fact I would say that self employed should roughly be earning the same in three days as employed would in a week, so then your fourth day is profit and your fifth is bonus and the six (if you have that much work) is your holiday money. So look at how much you are on now, add some for expenses (I dont know what kit you have already ) and see if you could earn that much a year in 3 days of work a week? Calculate on the basis of working at least 50 days a year because if your only doing three days a week you wont affford a holiday. Then if you get more days a week then the number of whole weeks you work might come down abit. So if the figure comes out at, lets say £150 a day (for three days a week to equal what your on now) then can you get three days a week at that rate? If you think you can then go for it, and then yo can either move upto 4,5,6 days a week or you could afford to drop your rate to make up extra days. You just need that base of three days a week at a suitable rate to start with. Of course if you have 4-5 days a week beign offered already then go for it.

Yes, Whats That About?? Is your computer set up to do that or is it by Choice? IF ALL CAPITALS IS CONSIDERED SHOUTING, then What Does First Letter Capitals Mean?

Thanks. The heat is an issue, my start time is 1 pm so going to be very hot.

Got my first Olympic distance triathlon this Saturday. But nervous about the run but should be ok. It's 1500m/40km/10km Went and did the bike course earlier this week and swam 1600m on Monday and 2000m yesterday and so there is no more that I can do! Got to take it easy for the next three days and then see what happens on Saturday!

Like a lanyard then?

Gri Gri would be better for that though.

They are a lanyard adjuster, usually supplied with the lanyard of varying lengths, so not much else you can do with really, other than use it a lanyard!

Cant believe no ones mentioned baby oil!? I thought everyone knew about that. Works a treat. Although a bottle of baby oil in the shower might give visitors the wrong (or right) impression.

Ok, I think your right, so they don't help with the confusion then.

That's a good description, except Labour only workers are not sub contractors in any way because there is no "sub" contract.

I don't see how that would fit on a pick up?

Looking on the thule site, these clamps dont even fit the aero bars, you need to change the clamp for some special bolts that then slide into a track on the aero bars. My bike rack does come with these bolts but unless your roof bars have this track (like a T section along the length) then they definatly wont fit.

Right the oval clamp is 70mm along its longest lenght so that is so tight I would have to say they wont fit!

I'll go and measure the ones on the car, they have an oval clamp to fit the thule aero bars, not sure how wide they are. 70mm seems quite wide.

I think I meant £70 plus postage, they are £90 plus in halfords but I think you can probably get them for 70 ish on line, so call it 60.