Mark Bolam

I got chased out of our local pool when I wore Speedo trunks. It was only when I got home I realised the ‘S’ had fallen off.

It’s good that the saw is a professional model, and that they cater for lefties at last. Bloody clever, these 8 year olds.

My wife bought some running shorts which are fine but took about 25 days to arrive. Posted directly from China!

Cedar is a softwood?

What rope are you on Paul? You may find 8mm cord will bind too much on thicker ropes.

£242 is expensive, but a set of blades will have got through thousands and thousands of pounds worth of work before they are done. When you think about it they are the only part of a chipper that do the work, everything else is just there to let the blades do their job.

That’s pretty much what I did. Unfortunately I got conned into thinking I liked it.

Are we still talking about hitch cord?

Bugger. I had that call this morning and didn’t stop to think. Gave him all my ex’s card details.

I hear you there Gary! My Transit policy reduced one year even when I told them straight my wife utterly refuses to drive it! I’m sure insurance companies sometimes cut the head off a chicken and base your premium on the pattern of the blood splatter. It’s the only explanation. Jack, buy a small brown car and watch your premium tumble. My burgundy Fiesta costs so little I think by next year they will be paying me to insure it. I haven’t told them I’ve put a GTi badge on the back, mind.

That’s done well with a big fella on it Dan! What do you do @TommyB? I’m not a massive fan of the Ocean tbh, I love my Beeline, but it’s a bastard to seal properly.

Can you not soak it?

While I totally agree with you Bob, box-ticking is becoming increasingly prevalent in all sectors, and arb and forestry maybe more than most. I’ve met shite cutters with loads of tickets, and brilliant ones with none. The specific problem I see in arb is that by the time you’re really, really good your body is knackered, with a few notable exceptions (cue ‘I didn’t start climbing till I was 55 and can still run rings round all the young ‘uns’ rants!). I think climbing at the top level commercially you have a Premier League life expectancy, hence so many new start ups, increased competition, and perpetually depressed prices. The other big thing is the enjoyment of being in arb. I like money, don’t get me wrong, but I generally love the job. I like trees, I like working with them, and Iike working with everyone I work with. Plumbers, sparks and brickies earn more than us at the coal face, and they’re welcome to it. Not knocking them at all, just not for me. As an old gaffer once said ‘The craic is worth ten grand a year!’

The offer still stands mate!

Mull, you’re a sharp bloke. You know the difference between overloaded and overloaded. Jack, take a lesson here mate. The blokes who have advised you have a few miles on the clock between them. Just plan things better. You’ll make more money, not less.

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Good stuff. Nice when something works as well as you hoped it would. It’s a rare occurrence for me!

Your pond is looking great Marcus. Sorry to hear your woes Spandit, you should get some kind of award, not a load of ballache! The fire brigade access thing gave me a good laugh though. It could be very useful for them to pump from, I suppose. Good work Matthew. Some really nice projects. We dammed a tiny dyke when I was a nipper and made a pool big enough to canoe in. That was before planning was invented, mind. I love ponds.

I’d say do it for a year, then the rest of your life will seem easy.

Eucalyptus are always good for guaranteeing future work.

I ditched the Pantin years ago and got a CT which is much better. Now got a Notch which is better again and tends right from the floor, although I find the straps a bit fussy.

100gb is a lot of porn, sorry, data J!

Mast sharing was going on in the 90's when I worked for Mercury/One2One/T-Mobile mate.

And all for under £20k!

With a 4x4 diff for some serious pavement mounting action.