sime42

""Taxes to be at ‘highest sustained level in history’, warn experts. "" Maybe this is one of the reasons that we'll all be crippled by taxes for life;- Covid-19: NHS Test and Trace 'no clear impact' despite £37bn budget WWW.BBC.CO.UK It was set up to help prevent lockdowns but there have been two more since its launch, MPs say.

Thanks for the insights. Sounds like you've got an effective strategy going on there. You obviously operate on a much larger scale than I do. I don't climb on SRT, yet, but I could probably use the Big Shot to make the DRT easier on ivy clad trees. As mentioned by@htb. Whichever way you achieve it, it's certainly very satisfying to get the bloody stuff off the tree in big sheets, rather than annoying little bits. I had a customer once who kept some of those sheets and cleaned them up, finished them and kept them as a once living sculpture kind of thing. Looked really nice, the way all the strands intertwined.

Bloody hell chaps, you're early with your sowings. I've not even thought about things like courgettes yet. I'll try to get the toms in today at least. My chilly seedlings are looking good from last month and most of the garlic I planted at the end of last year is starting to appear. I love the positivity of spring. Most trees are now showing signs of life with nice fat buds appearing, including all our fruit trees in the garden. Hoping to get a couple of new apples this year from grafts I did a couple years ago.

It's the model I use as well. If you're honest, hardworking and pleasant you'll always have a repeat customer base.

That sounds a promising approach to the job. I normally go bottom up if I have to strip the crap off there and then. The only thing that puts me off is the often treacherous climb up past the ivy. If it's really thick it's difficult to find secure hand and foot holds. Is there a technique for making that easier?

Brings a new meaning to screwing. [emoji12]

I've got a touch of FOMO now so I'll have my beer and the introduction to the technicalities of tuning please!

I trust you and your excellent work Spud. So I'm happy to just smile and get on with another beer! I'm late today actually so itll be my first of the evening.

Makes me fancy a bit of a walk along Offa's Dike.

Horrible stuff, it really is the devil's own plant. Nothing to add about getting rid of it. If I'm not in a rush I normally cut off a clear band of about 12 all around the trunk of the afflicted tree and then just wait for it to die off above. It's easier to pull off when dead. As a note, be careful of the dust. When I used to do a lot of it I found it really affected my lungs. Made me cough a lot and even felt chest pain sometimes. I resorted to wearing a dust mask in the end, that helped. Not sure if it is dust, or small fibres or maybe pollen from the ivy flowers.

Admire your honesty here. Just wanted to add a word of caution about retirement. I hope you're right about it in your case but it could go the other way. I'm not there yet myself but I think retirement can be detrimental to some people. The shock of a big lifestyle change and the sudden lack of routine etc. I guess if you've got lots of plans of stuff to do you should be ok.

Are you still talking about Scotland and the SNP? Most if not all that you say there could equally be applied to England and Boris's Conservatives.

I hadn't thought of that, you're probably right. [emoji12]

Exactly my thoughts.

Same where I live. I don't understand it at all; where are all the stupid buggers going to and from? With hospitality shut, non-essential shops shut, leisure facilities shut, schools shut etc, where is there to go? It's even busy in the middle of the day so can't just be people going to work and back.

It think you underestimate him, he's a tough old bird!

Maybe it's time to consider a new approach in your "discussions". A touch more empathy, compassion and diplomacy for instance. Something is clearly not working if you have to resort to physical violence on top of verbal assault.

No surprise there then.

Reckon you're far better off with your stoats if the eat the filthy rats and mice!

That said, I'm also a fan of sycamore as logs. Splits lovely, dries well, (with or without mould), burns lovely. Not keen on it as a tree though. It's a real tree weed and blocks light from everything around it with its heavy shade..

I've had bloody rats living in one of my stacks. Droppings and rubbish everywhere. Smells too. Rank creatures.

Lipton?

This might be controversial to some but I'd welcome seeing more of that in future. Obviously we're never going to get the lack of contrails that we saw in Lockdown, but I'm sure a big reduction would be possible and very much needed. The less exotic holidays and business travel the better IMO, for various reasons.

Telescope to find the drone when you lose it?! [emoji12]

Great idea for a thread this, nice one. It's about time we focused on some positive aspects of this big old mess. They may be few but they are there. With an 18 month old little lad and his mother back at work full time after 12 months I've not exactly had more time available to do useful stuff around the house and garden! Much less actually. I have however spent far more time with him than I would otherwise have done in normal years. It's been really nice, if hard work at times. Important for bonding at his age I think. This was only the case for the first and only real Lockdown. The positive impact on the environment was lovely to see, one of the best aspects for me. Nature really seemed to bounce back with the massive reduction in filthy, polluting, annoying traffic. Also for us as humans; it was so much more pleasant walking and cycling around quiet roads. Makes you realise how much cars have come to dominate our lives, in lots of adverse ways. As a result of barely leaving the house and having very few places to go anyway, we've been doing a lot more walks around the local area. That's been really nice. Lockdown as an excuse to not do things, mainly social things. I've definitely enjoyed that! Again, more during the first Lockdown. It was a real booster for building community spirit. Something sadly lacking normally. (I'd argue that in part that's a consequence of cars and too much busy traffic). There was a WhatsApp group set up on our road to help support those that needed it. First time I'd spoken to most of our neighbours. It's proved to be a good way of sharing local information. Money wise we've probably spent a bit less but not much. The ease of online shopping has almost counteracted the savings of not going out! Lack of physical human contact is bloody tough. I'm dying be be able to hug my mum again, and for her to hug her little grandson. It's also sad that he can't play and bond with his cousins, looking forward to the time when he safely can.