Sutton

If you mean, some kind of super-acceleration in stretching loans beyond all bounds of them ever being "serviced" again then given current UK household debt, "We" wont have to do anything. It'll do it itself. Some of us are thinking about new beginnings though

My neighbour's carer's daughter's son-in-law got down to the last two in being selected as a manservant for the honourable gentleman 14 years ago. Luckily, he was dropped at the last hurdle for refusing to agree to personally service the gentleman's wife as well as serving him.

Financial capitalism is like your step-mommy who says "I like what you want to do but keep me informed". State capitalism is like your nan who says "well, if that's what you want to do, but be careful". Are you sure, we are ready to leave home for good? Even Elon Musk doesn't know where he's headed?

Don't get disheartened. Passion keeps the feeling alive. The first chatbots translated "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" into russian thus: "the vodka is strong but the meat is off". My grand daughter's algorithm might put it: "The mood has momentum but consumerism curtails"

... not being back in the UK that's for sure ?

Agreed in the short term. Particularly with limited travel abroad this summer

yeah but what's my point? It's very simple. Arbs and foresters are in daily contact with landowners. Those dealings have tremendous opportunities even under current circumstances. If you saw the few listed concerns previously, then you know the question is "what can be done?". One option is to look to the business of diversifying partnerships between arbs/foresters and landowners for the supply of chip for community Combined Heat and Power Systems. Arbs and Foresters throughout UK have the local knowledge and business contacts to start setting up supply sources up for their areas. My grand-daughter follows the news and says the world is not going to change back to the way things were anytime soon! From what I've seen, the economy and finance is going to become very different too. So, if you're interested in diversifying, contact a local consultant who knows about CHP. Have a chat and run some figures. We did and it made sense to us. Anyone else got any experience?

Weather is crucial for business planning for future firewood sales. Computer-modelling for long range weather forecasts has many variables making it more of an art than a science. But we can all see seasonal variations and changing weather patterns. Right? Google a few and have a look at historic trends in temperature change. Here's some tiny background info that might help if you wanted to look into why we have this current cold spell. No wacco woo-woo just putting the very real current economic fears in context For the last ten years even the climate change deniers have conceded that crop yields are getting affected by hotter drier summers and warmer wetter winters. Established theories explain why the UK benefits from the jet stream overhead and the gulfstream up through the Atlantic waters which make the UK's winters so moderate. But, it snowed in Ontario Canada this week which is rare and the UK is on the same latitude. Imagine how life would change if these mutual conveyors of warm air and warm sea got disrupted permanently. Some have evidence to show the continuing polar ice cap melt would cause that disruption and affect the UK's comparatively mild winters. This isn't alarmist hooie. Remember the Beast from the East in Feb/March 2019. Now, we've got more polar easterlies at the beginning of the summer. Look into it. After the current chaos has subsided, look forward to a time for planting trees for firewood.

Nice posts. Same as it ever was like the housing developers who fill their rabbit hutches and then monopolise/extort their gullible occupants with District Heating schemes. Believing the system's rigged is for the birds. Who'd get up in the morning for that? Unless of course your income has been less than the cost of living for so long that you're now working for the man not your family. As Al Murray Publandlord said when explaining the EU. "It's much more complicated than that!" One piece missing is communal accountability or being so localised that your reputation is something to value because of the people you're dependent on living/working around you. Old-fashioned neighbourly suffocation had its limits though and most us can see why people dump off, move on and start all over again. Some call it a career. For others its a way of life like those who make housecalls for your unwanteds and only to then flytip it conveniently in one place for the council to deal with... That's a Viz toptip not to be taken seriously... We can't get nostalgic about the 19th Century communities in the Midlands and the North who scrimped and saved to build their Co-ops whose few lasting legacies are now the boarded up or converted non-conformist chapels. What we can do though is think about getting out of screen-bubble time, echo-chambers and habitual ruts. Here's another little brick for the case

True, and when you see the industrial innovators of Germany aren't progressing on renewables and stopgapping with a new Datteln coal fired powerstation, some of us can't help but think that the beancounters must have missed some opportunities for the sake of looking good in the short-term. Most of our utilities Companies are foreign owned. Firewood and Community Heat and Power Partnerships are I believe serious options for the future but the UK being what it is, means a huge host of factors are needed to be appeased first. Thinking about the highly-charged image of the magic money tree is as a good place as any to start

Agreed. Supplying Drax is like this old cartoon. I'm saying something more positive:

K, What you say about Drax is interesting. The calls for locally grown willow SRC didn't last long did they? And whilst artic loads of arb waste and brash bales are worthy, they alone are hardly going to keep the country's lights on - as has already been said. So, the likes of Drax box-ticks its way through justifying their £1.5million+ daily subsidy which leaves us the home consumers ultimately paying for higher kWh per unit (after standing charges) than most other countries in the EU. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647341/International_Energy_Price_Comparisons_September_2017.pdf Relatedly, the new power station being built at Bridgwater is being delayed and costing more and the energy it'll eventually produce wont be a bargain neither: https://www.theenergyshop.com/articles/what-does-hinkley-point-mean-for-energy-bills Lecky bills going up means good prospects for tree planting schemes to make the firewood market more sustainable especially when lobbyists are trying to ban gas boilers or even if the warmongers bate Putin into turming off the gas supply. The understandably huge number of people signing up for woodchip tipoffs here on Arbtalk during this lockdown period might well be the start of more promising things on the drive to keep it local

An old timer we knew who actually had to work horses pre-mechanisation put it like this: Strength of an elephant nerves of a cat and intelligence of a rabbit Making a call to get a spannerhead on a problem is just a different mindset to being horsey. There's a lot of close-knit old money in Devon. Word gets around about the impatient comer's in. If you know what I mean

Not forgetting politics is just showbiz for ugly people, the names have been changed to protect the innocent in this little old-style satire. My neighbour's carer says she was told by a burse in the MHS that the joke is on Horis the wannabe Turnip. Turns out he was told to get infected with Covid-19 by the real powers-that-be as his private improprieties meant he lacked the true gravitas required for what this crisis demands. They told him his oafish buffoonery was unsuited for the press briefings to tell us what's happening and what should be done about it. So that rake Snaab was drafted in. Apparently backroom advice only agreed to let Horis off the sidelines once his gf had squeezed out some hopefully distracting news. Then he wuz told he could finally have some fun and play the three Blair trump cards of sympathy, praise and celebration to get the fanboys back on side. But my neighbour's carer isn't a brit so what does she know?

Like us, Scandinavia and the Baltic States are catching up from their wet winters. Other setbacks aside, follow the breadcrumbs from here and you'll get a sense of what the timber/firewood markets will do and when once building/construction hits full steam: https://uk-ports.org/business-news/

So what does UK forestry industry expect will happen given the world economy slow down? Globalism is semi-suspended, we're leaving the EU and with it its cashflows of payments and fundings because of Brexit, and C-19 is reducing productivity. Have imports significantly declined? What are the ports and docks like? The UK Central Bank has been printing money on and off since 2008, so Westminster and the devolved Govs can honour their assurances for woodland grants and funds for planting etc but what about timber prices? What are you seeing where you are? Forestry land had started declining in value last year. That existing capital invested will want to see some return sooner or later particularly if it's got nowhere else to go. https://www.johnclegg.co.uk/site/uploads/press/ForestMarketReport_2019.pdf

So, have I got this right? If I'm old, fat, poor, male, from an ethnic minority, with bad health, living in a heavily built up area, blood type B, sociable, and ignorant of Gov health warnings then I'm much more likely to get C-19? Surely there are far more people like me than wealthy and reclusive investors and business leaders who are worried about workers taking too much time off and keen for everyone to get back to work?

For the size of the Fendt - agreed - but they're good tractors Pre CVT, the rule of thumb was 1ton:10hp and 10% off engine hp for PTO. So that rule still seems to apply If you're set on a MF 3000, find out when the transmission was rebuilt. I've heard they weren't entirely reliable

Two ascenders bottom right pulling up the guy on mid right in a plank-seat lift. There's a rope dangling down on the left side too. So, old school climbing

Toilet rolls? If that's the new currency this month given the UK left the Gold Standard in 1931 then why not?

Our grand daughter is a news junkie and dabbles in RT for a bit of re-balancing. Or so she says. Apparently every advert break is pushing bullion sales. "Own a gold sovereign" kind of thing. Being an economics student, I believe her when she says that "paper gold", likewise, isn't the safe haven it used to be. Think of all those treasure hordes dug up from after the Roman Empire fell. When society implodes what can you actually do with your gold? Who would want it? What can you get for it? The people who buried that gold never came back for it. Telling times. The government is trying to re-assure us that history wont repeat itself. If you like what they are doing, buy some of their bonds

We're looking at hiring a heizohack (with op) for a day. If the blades needed changing, how long would it take? I ask because some charge by the hour & others charge by cu.mtr produced. Thanks in advance

I could've some 7 x 4 x 1.5 after putting them through the saw but you'd have to come to Bath. i.e. I've larger planks 1.5 inch thick that need cutting to your size. Cabinet not rustic grade. PM me an offer

Interesting. Thanks. I'll get in touch with my supplier